Skip to main content

Ethan's Homecoming

Image
By
We all agreed:  it seemed surreal to think about Ethan actually being home again.  To walk into a restaurant and ask for a table for "6" instead of the 5 people we have been for the past two years.  To see Ethan sitting on the couch, checking his favorite news websites.  To realize that we don't own a vehicle that actually seats all of us.

For me, it didn't hit until the day he was coming home.  Wednesday, July 11.  I was actually driving back to Michigan from Pennsylvania, and I thought of seeing his face again.  I was overcome with emotion.

Traveling from Poland, he had three different flights.  One from Warsaw to London, London to Chicago, and Chicago to Traverse City.  He was scheduled to arrive in Traverse City at 9:55 p.m.  We could hardly wait!

When we got to the airport, we realized that nobody had thought to bring balloons, or signs, or anything.  So, John came up with a cheer, and we were so desperate, and crazed with excitement, we actually went along with it :-)


Give me an "E"!


Give me a "T"!


Give me an "H'!


Give me an "A"!


Give me an "N"!

What does that spell?

"ETHAN"!!

We practiced it several times, and no, we didn't care what anyone thought of us :-)

To keep from having to monitor the gate where passengers exit, the Cherry Capital Airport lowers a gate.  It keeps out all the miscreants....



Finally, the gate went up, and the announcement came overhead that the plane had arrived (15 minutes late, I might add...cue mocking Zeus laughter)!

He was the second person off the plane.  As soon as we saw him (but still couldn't get to him), we started the cheer.  At full voice.  As loud as we could.

And that's when we saw it:  the Cheeser smile!


Oh my goodness, words can't describe how good it was to hold him in our arms again!



Everybody commented on the fact that he now looks like a MAN!!!

One piece of luggage didn't make it, but never fear, prepared Ethan was ... well ... prepared.  He had packed everything he needed for a day in his backpack.



Johannah offered him the first Reese's peanut butter cup that he had eaten in a while, and we headed back to Interlochen, and back to our happy lives.

Comments

  1. AngieJuly 16, 2012 at 12:59 PM

    Welcome home, Ethan!! I am actually crying just because this brought back to me the same sweet moment when Travis came home...I was there in that moment again! Reunions are so exciting.

    ReplyDelete
  2. LinzJuly 16, 2012 at 9:00 PM

    So good to see the six of you together in a picture again! Welcome home, Ethan!

    ReplyDelete
  3. AnonymousJuly 22, 2012 at 11:13 AM

    YAY!!! Ethan finally made it HOME! Awesome photos. :)

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Quest for Birkenstocks

By
One of the main reasons I go to Germany every couple of years is to restock my supply of Birkenstocks.  I started buying them when I lived there, and I basically can't live without them now.  It just about kills me when a pair runs its course and needs to be thrown away.  I think in my lifetime, I've thrown away only three pairs.  One that never was quite right (the straps were plastic and would cut into my skin after a long day), one pair that I wore gardening one too many times (the brown dirt stains wouldn't come out of the white leather), and the pair that I was wearing when I broke my ankle (they were an unfortunate casualty of broken ankle PTSD because those purple and blue paisleys go down as one of my favorite pairs of all time).  I only threw out the garden ones a couple of days before I left for Germany, because I knew I would be getting a new pair. The only store where I have ever bought my Birkenstocks is Hoffmann's in Speicher.  (Well okay, t...
2 comments
Read more

Johannah's Bridal Shower

By
One of the only reasons to lament my daughter not living in Utah anymore? Sister Mecham.  When I think back to the absolutely classic, beautiful, elegant, heart-warming bridal shower she threw for Glo, I literally sit in awe.  Her talents and abilities are unmatched! Believe me, I was hoping anyone  would volunteer to throw Hannah a bridal shower.  Being only two weeks post-op, I knew it was going to be very difficult for me to stand up let alone host the thing.  I even asked several people about me throwing it, thinking they would tell me it wasn't  up to me, but do you know what they ALL said? Of course  I should host it. This is what we do, baby! So I took a deep breath and decided to do it the best I could do it, knowing that I would never equal what Becky Mecham could do. Since Hannah's wedding colors were Tigers colors, and since Hannah loves baseball, I figured a baseball-themed bridal shower would be perfect for her.  And she agreed! But l...
Post a Comment
Read more

Saying goodbye to KitTen

By
Last week, we said goodbye to KitTen.  Sadly, it was way too early for him to die. When I worked at Interlochen during the summers, I knew a medical assistant who fostered animals before they were put up for adoption by the local humane society.  She got a Siamese-looking kitten after I had already left camp and posted a photo of him on FB.  I reached out immediately. Growing up with Siamese cats, I really do love them.  I love their personalities, especially how vocal they are.  I adopted KitKat back when we lived in Dayton, but in a strange turn of events, a girl who was cat-sitting him before we left for Germany wouldn't give him back.  Since then, we've had mostly tabbies (with the GRAND exception of Hootie), so I was excited to start an adventure with another Siamese. We were living in PA at the time, so Mark and Allison brought him out to us.  Because he was going to be MY cat, I was determined to give him THE most perfect name, but in the end, w...
Post a Comment
Read more