I tried hard not to cry as Michael put each suitcase and box in the car. I tried to delay my leave, but it was inevitable, I had to get on the road soon - daylight hours, long drive.
I swallowed hard as the boy and the husband said good bye and told me to be safe. Michael looked emotional. He's never emotional. Gabriel was strong. Later, I would find out as soon as I was gone he broke down in tears, saying he kept them in until I was gone so I would not get upset.
I backed out of the driveway and started the journey. I had left little notes for Gabriel, he would end up finding most of them within days. What I didn't know is he put a note in my make-up bag, which I would find in about 9 hours. The note is still in my make-up bag.
I don't recall crying on the journey. I do remember feeling slightly sad once I passed Columbus, the rest of the drive would be completely new. Crossing the Ohio/Indiana line, I swallowed hard.
I had no idea what the journey would bring, but I never questioned participating. The second I received the offer, I knew we would move. There was never a question of not doing so. There were many questions later of why, and a few times the thought of going back played in my head for longer than it should.
I didn't know how hard it would be to live apart from my child, husband, and dog for almost 3 months. We had it mapped out based on my training schedule, which would bring me back to Cleveland. The first seperation would be 3 weeks, but the others would all fall into 2 weeks. Easy peasy we thought...
Three weeks was too long. Something happens between week 2 and 3. It's too much. The hour time difference didn't seem like much, but my time frame to call never seemed to match up just right with what was happening back in Ohio. Our conversations were brief with little substance. Michael was figuring out move logistics with the relo team and being a single parent. I was learning a new job, new place, and trying to find a rental property in a town with no rental properties. The little things were gone - no idea how his day was, what they had for dinner, any little funny things that happened during day. I couldn't tell him how lonely I was, that I felt like I would never make friends, that I wanted to go home. That I was certain we would have no place to live. There are barely any rental properties in Effingham. As a matter of fact, the realtor assigned to me from the relo team, did not return my calls after finding out I need more than 2 bedrooms and had a dog.
As I type this in the kitchen of our rental house, I smile at how life works out while I wipe away the few tears writing this is causing. The renters prior to us had moved to another rental property - they needed something smaller. Our landlord had been traveling a lot and hadn't listed the rental property as soon as she would have normally. In talking to another person, who started a few months before me, I discovered the name of another realtor, who the company had approved. She had the listing for what would become our rental. A series of circumstance gave us a place to live.
Weekends were the worst. Sleeping in seemed like it would be amazing, and as it turned out is was just a depressing reminder that I was living in a hotel and far away from my family and friends. I decided I needed weekend homework. I started finding places (library, the school, the running path, places the locals went, etc.). I drank too much wine at Fridays, but ended up making friends with much of the staff - the good kind of friends, the ones who will pick you up if your car breaks down, or take your kid when you didn't know there was no school.
I couldn't wait for my family to move. I was counting down the days until their arrival. Mother Nature was going to strike during their 7 hour drive across two states. A part of 71 would close, multiple semi trucks would jack knife off the free way, they would pass two 30 plus car accidents, Michael would have prime location to watch the terror on a woman's face as she lost control of her car, Gabriel would decide to sleep as much as he could after seeing a fire truck spin.
That drive here would end up being the easiest part of my husband's life for the coming months. Living together again, would be more adjustments and stress than we realized.
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