This morning we woke up really early and were on the road by 6:30am, with the kids still in their pyjamas. Thankfully the roads weren't as bad as yesterday and we made it to Manchester airport by 8:00am to drop Grant off (it's usually just over an hour's drive so we did well). I got home at around 9:30 and then had to quickly coax the children into their uniforms, throw together two packed lunches and drag them around the corner to school, which is open today.
I came home to phone Grant as he'd asked me to let him know when I got home so he'd know we were safe, and he was just about to go through security - in fact, his phone rang right after he'd put it into the box to go through the x-ray machine. He called me back once he was through, both of us relieved that he was safely in the departure lounge and things were going smoothly.
His flight is at 12:00, it's about 1h20min to Amsterdam where he has to change planes, then it's about 11 hours to Osaka for another layover and then a grueling 14 hours to Auckland.
I feel so much less stressed now that he's actually on his way. Now I don't care what the weather does - we have enough food and milk in the cellar and freezer and I make our own bread anyway so even if we're snowed in for the next 3 weeks it's okay. Today is lovely and sunny but bitterly cold - minus 7 celcius.
I'm going to miss him so much though! Besides the fact that I actually have no local friends (my closest friends live 30 minutes, 1 hour, 3 hours and 5 hours away), the longest Grant and I have been apart since the day we met 15 and a half years ago is two weeks and that was awful.
But we're excited that the next step towards our new life has been taken!
