living blood relative that he had contact with. As I cried my way through phone calls trying to track down my passport that I had applied for just a week or so before I realized I would not be there to hug him on this day, or even the next day. It would be 8 days later before I would hug him.
March 1st my passport would arrive and I would begin making arrangements to leave the country for one week. HOLY MOLY the things this momma had to get ready to ensure that the children would get to and from the places they needed to be. Let me tell you my husband can take care of some kids now! I mean it IS what he does for a living and he ROCKS at it. However, taking care of kids and knowing their schedules are two very different things. Picture it, notebook paper, a table of sorts with the days of the week, each child's name (and husband) listed down the left side and each square of the table broken down into 3 parts. Morning, Afternoon and Night. This would tell where each child needed to be and how they would need to get there. Some may think, ummm control freak? I would say to that, YES! I am a lover of all things schedules, pens, calendars and highlighters, so this was my JAM! I must confess though, each calendar/planner (except for 2019) that I have ever bought was the most detailed, highlighted organized thing you ever did see up through January 16th. Then for whatever reason that dream of organization sat untouched in my desk until the following year when I got a new one and repeated the process. Alright, back on track. So in preparation for me to leave the country for a week I had to make sure that the kids schedules were detailed by time and day which would need to include my husbands schedule of track practices and meets as well as who would be with the children when Matt could not be. It was quite comical, and I am certain a friend of mine was at my house till nearly the midnight hour one of the nights I was gone waiting for my husband to get home so she could leave. He rocked that schedule and many of our friends helped care for our children so that I had nothing to worry about.
March 6th, I kissed my husband goodbye and hugged my Momma as I walked teary eyed to security. I wasn't anticipating the tears that early in the game, but something about flying across the world by yourself for the first time ever (first time across the world) kind of took me by surprise at the moment it became real. I would soon be boarding a plane that would take me to Chicago and there I would get on a plane that would fly over the ocean (vomit) and land across the world. I would then need to navigate a foreign airport with my Texas slang and hope I didn't miss my flight that would take me to Ukraine. God was good and my biggest scare was in Chicago where I was borderline having a panic attack - and I don't panic attack - as I waited in the security line what was 3 miles long and my plane was boarding in 10 minutes. It was a flash back to a few years ago when I was running through the Chicago airport trying to hug my boy before he left the country. M21, the same gate that I would weep as the flight attendant went onto the plane, got my child off and brought him out to me so I could hug him, would be the gate I would be riding, literally riding to, with an attendant trying to make sure I got onto the plane. I made it. Next stop, Vienna.
When that airplane landed on the ground in Vienna after flying over the ocean for who knows how long it was glorious!!! Here's the deal, I do not like to fly. I don't *mind* it over land, but the thought of being in the air for HOURS over the ocean sounded like certain doom. I self medicated myself with some Tylenol PM and slept as much as I could. As they say, don't look down. Which it was dark, so that helped. I was in a constant mode of keeping my brain stimulated with something other than allowing it to think about what was happening. Sleep, movies, books, music and eating. All of the above helped occupy my thoughts for the 9 or so hours in the air. So when it landed, and I knew I was now across the ocean and would only have a short 2-3 hour flight from there to Ukraine, over land, I felt much better.
March 7th I got off of the plane and walked into the Kiev Airport. GUY'S I WAS IN UKRAINE! What the what? Just one week earlier I was crying as I couldn't locate my passport, now 7 days later I would soon be walking out of an airport in a country that just 3 years prior I had never given any thought to. I would be the one coming through the gate with Kostya waiting for me. I would be the foreigner. I would not know the language and most unprepared for of all, I would smile at people who never smiled back.
To be continued...
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