Anyang Hasseo aka Hello

Greetings from the land of the morning calm. Obviously not America-ha! I don't always write when I'm traveling, but since I've got people and dogs in my house this trip it feels okay to blog in real time-ish. I'm
alwaysusually behind here on From This Side of the Pond, so 'real time' is a relative term, but I'm determined to get some words penned before Christmas rolls around and fall happenings feel like old news.

My daughter just told me I'd probably spend the first three paragraphs explaining why I haven't written lately, and another couple talking about the flight over and by then the post would be so long I'd  feel the need to wrap it up without ever really getting to the heart of the matter, which is this-

A brand new baby boy to love.

In South Korea, which is a long way from the Palmetto State but still! He's here and he's perfectly perfect with his head full of dark hair and  the most deliciously squishy cheeks, and we are already head over heels.

His mama is a rock star y'all. Giving birth is always a bit scary, but giving birth in a country not your own where English is not the language of the day requires a heaping helping of faith, strength, and courage, and her well runs deep.

So let's talk for a minute about the trip over because my daughter knows me and she's right when she says I'll overstate it. She also knows doling out a million unnecessary details is kind of my jam, and isn't that why you read here?

The days leading up to our trip around the sun were only slightly crazy. 9,717 miles since October 2nd kind of crazy but whatever. Here's how it rolled out...

The week before we were due to fly east hubs, Daughter2 and I drove to Maryland for the wedding of a boy whose family we've known and loved since our kids were small. We spent the Friday night before the wedding with hubs sister and family, then attended the very lovely ceremony in Annapolis on Saturday. We got up at the literal crack of dawn Sunday to get Daughter2 on her flight back to South Carolina and hubs on his flight to South Dakota for a long planned pheasant hunt and me on the road for the drive further north to my mom's in NJ. I was more or less 'in the neighborhood' and believe it or not this made the most sense.

I know it all sounds nuts and it kind of was, but we tried to just take it one trip at a time, vowed to enjoy the moments as we lived them, and never allowed ourselves a look at the month in it's entirety so as not to lose our minds. We mostly succeeded.

Hubs arrived back in Maryland Thursday afternoon and hopped in the car as I buzzed the airport arrivals lane, so we could hit the highway home. We made it back to SC just before midnight, spent Friday doing laundry, unpacking, repacking, having my hair done (priorities!) and then were back up with the birds on Saturday for our flight to South Korea.

Bring on the Morning Calm please.

We were able to get a direct flight out of Atlanta and a mere 14+ hours later were in the airport in Seoul waiting on our driver for the hour and a half ride to our daughter and son-in-law's home. Easy peasy. And bonus, we beat baby boy here which was such a blessing as we were able to stay with the mancub while his mom and dad brought his brother into the world.

We're Tired. Yes with a capital T. Jet lag is for real when you're in an upside down time zone, and five days in I'm still waking up at 3 AM and nodding off at 7. But!! we're here and we're so grateful for so much.

For the miracle of new life, and for strong willed little girls who grow up to roll with whatever life brings...

For new experiences and the blessing of time...

...the way our hearts expand and grow right along with our people.

All Over the Map. Per Usual.

Why did I schedule a dental appointment for first thing Monday morning after a weekend away? Ugh. But done so that's something.

So here's what last week looked like. Get up in the dark of night Wednesday to drop hubs at Newark Airport for his trip to South Dakota. I know. Who goes to South Dakota? No offense South Dakotans, but it's just not a place most East Coasters ever get to see.

Unless they pheasant hunt.
We'll get back to that.

I left the airport and drove another hour and a half down to my mom's house in South Jersey, arriving just in time for breakfast. Like I said...early. My mom had a lot on her calendar Wednesday so the pup and I went for a walk, napped, and read while she was out. Thursday I drove another 2 1/2 hours down to DC to my daughters, stopping en route to pick up her car key from the detailer so that once I picked her up from the Metro we could then get back in rush hour traffic and collect her actual car. Keep up people! After we got the car we decided to have a leisurely dinner and allow some of the commuters time to get off the road. Not sure that ever happens around the Beltway, but by 8 PM it was some better.

Daughter1 went to work on Friday and I got busy packing up her share of the townhouse. In my head I had imagined this job being fairly quick and painless. Ha! Midway through the day I had to go to Home Depot and get a few more supplies. Have mercy!!, the traffic y'all. No wonder our politicians are all cranky. Home Depot is about 3 miles from my girl's house, but everybody's going somewhere, all at the same time, all the time it seems. I file these thoughts onto the 'reasons to be happy Daughter1 is moving out of DC' list I keep in my head. It's a short list, but the fact that she will leave all this traffic behind makes me a little bit happy. I know people talk about Seattle traffic, but a) she's not moving to Seattle, so won't be driving in it every day, and b) in terms of traffic DC trumps the state with a similar name by a mile.

Did you come here to read about traffic?

Even though there was a lot to get done, I had a nice time with my girl. Chatting, planning, working our way through a bag of Cow Tales. In our defense it was a small bag. She still has more packing to do, but we made a big huge dent in the process this past weekend. I'll be trekking back to DC next week to accompany her to her final dress fitting in the store, finish up the last bits of packing, and then bringing her home to NJ. Whoohoo! So excited to have her sleeping in her bed upstairs for a solid week before she flies to SC and then out to Washington State, and then back to SC, and then back to NJ with her sister for Christmas.

We won't think too hard about airplanes and Ebola.

Meanwhile, in South Dakota...hubs and some buds had a manly man's weekend pheasant hunting in the wilds of The Mount Rushmore State. He did not see Mount Rushmore, but he did come home with some beautiful birds.

If you're squeamish about such things don't look-

And don't open my freezer which is full of birds.

With a wing still on, which kind of skeeves me out so I'm avoiding the freezer too. Apparently one wing has to be left on for travel in case you're inspected. They need to know you only took males as it's illegal to take the hens.

And yes we plan to eat them, but I don't think I'll manage the whole 'under glass' thing. Remember in the old cartoons they were always serving pheasant under glass? Did I just date myself? Ours will likely be marinated in something and perhaps wrapped in bacon because we've heard they can be dry, and bacon makes everything deliciously moist. If you have a recipe you love send it my way.

Hubs had a wonderful time, and was overdue for some R & R. Of course he made friends with all the hunting dogs and no he did not wear flip flops in the field. He said I'd have loved taking pictures out there, so maybe one of these days.

With a side trip to Mt. Rushmore though, because if I'm going all the way to South Dakota I'm going to see the faces carved into a granite mountainside.