Teary Trip

It was a teary trip home from Dublin yesterday.  Quinn and I spent the afternoon with her cousins, 3 year old Jack and almost 3 month old Rhys.  Quinn and Jack had a great time playing in the back yard with Quinn in the lead.  They settled into the sand box for a while until they discovered bugs!  I went out and rescued them once by pitching the crawly thing out into the yard, but they discovered "thousands" more ( maybe 10) when moving a bucket and they were out of there.  It was great to be able to leave the 8 year old and 3 year old outside in a securely fenced back yard with two chocolate labs bouncing around as well while I took care of Rhys.

Rhys is adorable, cooing and smiling.  He took his bottle like a champ, and in spite of Grandma's preference he stay awake and play, fell asleep for a 2 1/2 hour nap.  All in all, when Daddy came home from errands, we had had a great afternoon.  So where do the tears come in.

Our Dublin family is moving to Cincinnati.  For over three years, I have made almost weekly trips to help out, to babysit, to have fun with my grandson Jack and now his brother Rhys.  It didn't really hit me emotionally until Quinn and I were making our way down Sawmill in rush hour traffic that this would be the last time.  Fortunately, Quinn was so worn out from a really busy day of Vacation Bible School and playing with Jack that she fell asleep before I even turned onto the 270 outer belt.  So my tears didn't have to be explained to the 8 year old who would think her crazy grandma had finally lost it. 

I am happy for my daughter and her new challenges:  new job, new house, new city, even new job for hubby--all of that.  I know that we will work out visits and keep in touch, but every time a child moves a bit farther away, it is difficult for the mom and grandma who loves to be part of their lives.  I just want to keep rescuing them from bugs and pushing them on the swings and singing them to sleep.  Sigh!  It'll be ok.