Surprise

( Part 34 )

 

Autumn

 

Autumn has arrived. The beginning of October is usually nice in Ireland, but this year it was even nicer. Do you know why? We bought a ticket for my husband to come and visit us. It had been six months, and it was about time to see each other. And since he wasn’t yet entitled to a holiday flight from work, we used up the points miles we had accumulated on our card, and it was just enough to buy a round trip ticket. He had already enough holiday days to come for a visit. A total of 2 weeks. Of course, we didn’t say anything to the children because we wanted to surprise them.

 

Neighbourhood assistance

 

I had to do some errands before his arrival, and I needed help to look after the children. My super-sympathetic friends Aurelia and two Kasias, whom I mentioned in the post “My Loneliness” came to my aid. I am still grateful to them for that. Even as I write this post, I am becoming more and more aware of how lucky I am in life. How amazing it is when strangers, come with completely selfless help that a person didn’t even ask for. It’s a rarity these days, unfortunately. That’s why I appreciate it all the more 😘. 

 

 

We bought a ticket for my husband for the 20th of October, but his arrival was the next day, and it was a Saturday. Do you know why we wanted it to be a Saturday? Because it was the day when the children were at Polish school, and we could organize everything nicely. Going to the airport, I had to take a jacket for my husband, because it was a bit chilly, and he was only wearing a jumper. Of course, I had to hide it in the car the day before so the kids wouldn’t ask questions. In the morning, I drove the team to school and went to the airport to pick up my husband. Arrival was at 11:05am and we were to pick up the kids at 1:15pm, so we had 2 hours of time to ourselves. We went to get something to eat and to grab a coffee.

 

The million $$$ view

 

When the time came to collect the children, the emotions were immense. Even now, when I write about it, I literally feel like I did then. I normally have that image in front of my eyes, and I don’t think I will ever forget it. First, we picked up our smallest son and younger daughter from class. When they saw Daddy, they ran and hugged him very hard.

 

The older daughter was next. My husband stood a little further from the door, not to be seen, especially since the little ones were all over him. Some parents waiting in the corridor for their children knew about our situation and the fact that my husband had arrived after such a long time. I stood on the opposite side of the corridor, so that she could look at me and not see my husband immediately after leaving the class. When she came out, she went straight towards me. Halfway there, she saw her dad. You cannot even imagine the sight that took place at that moment. My daughter threw herself around his neck, hugged him and started to cry. She cried so much that she was unable to calm down. That was so emotional that the people standing in the corridor were also moved and wiped their tears. Something incredible. Literally like in the movies, when daddy the soldier comes home from the war, where nobody expects him. All he was missing was his uniform.

 

The last one left was our firstborn. When he saw his dad in the hallway, I think he got shocked 😉. He looked at him as if he was some kind of phantom and didn’t say anything. I think he was speechless. He walked up, said hello and still didn’t say anything. It took some time for him to recover from the shock. It was only when we got to the house that I think it came off. It took him a while to go back to normal 😉. I have to admit honestly that I didn’t expect that much of a reaction. The rest of the day kids spent clinging to dad and asking him how it was in Bahrain and dad, overjoyed to be with us, was telling and telling stories 😉.

 

There was no end to the joy. Even the dog 🐕 was so happy that he almost hurt himself, running and jumping with happiness. And we were surprised that he remembered after such a long time away and yet such a short time of getting to know each other, especially since he was tiny, when they parted. As you can see, the Love was so immense that nothing disturbed it 😉🥰.

 

Festival of Lights – Dublin ZOO

 

It happened that during my husband’s stay, we managed to get tickets for the Festival of Lights at Dublin Zoo. The exhibition was open from 5-9pm, so it would have been rather difficult for me to go there alone with four children. The exhibition was really impressive. You could see giant colourful lanterns, illuminated sculptures inspired by wildlife, as well as a 30-metre Chinese dragon, a 16-metre porcelain tower with elephants, lions, orangutans, tigers, giraffes, monkeys and much more.

 

It is time to say goodbye

 

The two weeks flew by so quickly that we didn’t even notice when. It was time to part again. For how long? We do not know. The eldest daughter took it very emotional, and she wrote a note to her father.

 

A daughter’s letter to her dad, Polish-English (not grammatically correct in Polish)😉

It was good that I had this job, so my time was busier. I didn’t feel the absence of my husband as much as I probably would have felt sitting at home all the time. I guess that’s why I got the job, to help me get through this difficult period.

 

What a longing 🥰

Even the dog was reliving the separation 😉. After her husband left, he lay on the sofa for a few days staring out the window. 

 

Preparing for Christmas 🎄

We did not wait long for another visit. Already at the end of November, Ania flew in and kept us company for the next two weeks. Then time flew by quickly to prepare for Christmas. The children also had performances at school, so there was plenty to do.

 

Our Christmas at a distance

Christmas this year was a bit different than usual. My husband spent it alone in Bahrain, and we spent it in Ireland. Good that we were able to get together online for Christmas dinner, exchange the  wishes, and be “together” at least in that way. Of course, it wasn’t the top of our dreams, but better than nothing. On New Year’s Eve we were accompanied by our neighbour Kasia. And so we reached the end of the year.

 

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