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The One Where Briony Turns Into A Monster

Okay, so 'monster' might be kind of harsh. But our baby girl has 'blossomed' into quite the little handful while we've been away... She is crawling, diving, exploring, destroying, and just generally getting into mischief at every turn. I have ABSOLUTELY NO IDEA where my baby went.

Today, Geoff headed into Vancouver with Rob to check out a luxury supercar show while B and I hung out in Abbotsford. I'd hoped to do a little more with my day, but I've been flared up and icky for a few days now - okay, more like this entire trip - and I needed to take care of myself. It was another super hot day, and after we went for a walk outside with Marilyn, it was straight into another cool bath for Briony. She played for a loooong time and was lots happier when she emerged.

The rest of the day was essentially a reign of terror in the form of a tiny, giggly, noisy strawberry blonde. She emptied out all of Marilyn's bottom drawers - in the bedroom and the kitchen. She crawled laps around the living room and played noisily with everything she found. She explored underneath all the end tables and made about a thousand attempts to check out the fireplace and the plants. She thoughtfully 'unpacked' the suitcase on our bedroom floor. And she emptied out my laundry basket. Twice.

She's in bed now, and all the adults in the house are exhausted... :)

I've managed to scrape together a few scraps of energy and start our family's laundry in preparation for packing (I'm just nerdy enough that - whenever I can - I like to come home from a trip with suitcases full of *clean* clothes). I'm not sure why, but the preparation to come home feels a little bit different this time. I'm used to feeling almost kind of indifferent about it, happy to stay or happy to come home. For some reason, I feel a little bit sad today.

I thought for a while that maybe it was because we're leaving Aaron + Cait here, but I really don't think that's it exactly. I think it's a culmination of all the people we leave when we go home to Winnipeg - family and friends who it feels we are just constantly saying goodbye to.

I usually just pretend that it's just like people at home who we only see a couple of times a year, and that usually works... But not today. Today, I want to sign up for music classes with Vicky + Ava, and I want to have a standing monthly games night with Jason + Amy - and I want our 'west coast friends' to hang out at *our* house sometimes. I want to have brunch with Aaron + Cait again next weekend. I want to be around for some of those conversations when my nieces all try to figure out where to apply for school next year. I want to be at the airport when Hannah comes home. I want to go over to Joanne and Carole's houses and have tea with them and really get to know my 'new' sisters. And I don't want Marilyn to keep missing all the new things that Briony is learning every week. It seriously breaks my heart when Briony makes strange with her when our plane lands in Vancouver. Shall I continue? Because that's really just scratching the surface.

So yeah. That's where I'm at tonight. Sorting through laundry and sorting through emotions, and trying not to let either one of those things put a damper on our last 36 hours here.

Labels: Aaron, Briony, Caitlin, Family, Jason and Amy, My Friends, Our Other Home, Rob and Vicky, Travel

posted by Lindsay @ 10:56 PM