Saying Goodbye to the Parents

Two weeks ago, we said goodbye to my mom and dad. That was hard. Yesterday we said goodbye to Victor's mom and step-dad. That was hard.

Hard is an understatement. Victor and I were completely spoiled by being able to spend such quality time with our parents. We hadn't seen mine for eight months and we hadn't seen his for over a year and a half. And not to mention the fact that they were here for us in our first moments of being parents to support us, guide us, and encourage us as we experienced a huge life change, one that sometimes we just felt so clueless about, and still do.

What's been the sweetest blessing is seeing how much love they immediately had for our son. It's true that the people that love you will love your children.

And that's why saying goodbye to them this time around was much harder than it's ever been. Victor and I have both lived abroad before and gone for long periods of time without seeing family. When we moved to Okinawa, even then the goodbyes weren't hard, because our parents were excited for us in this new adventure, and we didn't think much about leaving them.

But now that a little baby is involved, everything has changed. It was SO hard seeing the tears in Victor's parents eyes at the airport as they said goodbye to J. Babies change so incredibly fast, that for us to live so far from family who loves him is a harsh reality of our grand adventure of living abroad. It was something we never had thought about until now.

We had a wonderful summer with family here. They shared with us one of the most special times of our lives. But the time sure did fly by. We love them. And we miss them.

So now it's just our little family of three. Wish us luck!