A 5:45 Flight to Berlin, a 5 hour layover and she'll be in her home for the next 10 months, the University of Copenhagen. http://www.ku.dk/english/
My role: pick her up in Hollywood, take her to the bank and then to LAX. In Hollywood she was waiting with a duffel bag on wheels and an expedition back pack. Both loaded to the point where you couldn't have slipped an extra piece of paper in either of them! In addition to the pack and duffel, Ms S had taken her new bike apart and along with her tools it was loaded a box that fit in the back of the Jeep. She paid $100 to ship the bike.
At the bank, we converted her US account to one she could access in Copenhagen without incurring massive transaction fees. When she gets to Copenhagen she'll have to buy a European sim card for her phone. Since she is officially still a student at UCLA she will still be connected via the UCLA ISP. The banking took for ever and killed our chance to have lunch together. I dropped her and the luggage at BerlinAir. I unloaded her things on the sidewalk and offered to get her a cart. Sophia looked at me like I was nuts. She hoisted her back pack on, slung her purse around her shoulder, took her wheeled duffel and the bike box and looked ready to rock and roll. More than ready.
It was weird to see her go. I was happy for her, sad to see her go and so proud. She looked great, her attitude was great and she (like always) had her shit together. Passport, school paperwork, banking paperwork and everything else she needed plus copies! She had a book and her IPad for the plane ride. I gave her a 100 dollar bill to put in her shoe and money for the lunch we didn't get to have.
She should be in Copenhagen about now. I hope she gets some sleep, but I have a sneaking suspicion she put her bike together and is out taking a long ride. Sophia has a couple of weeks of orientation and then its down to work. Ten months from now, she'll be home, she'll graduate from UCLA and will probably go to grad school. Whatever she decides, I won't 2nd guess her.
Cakes and I are going to miss her. I'll miss going to Costco with her and dividing up "supplies" when we finished shopping. We'll miss meeting her for breakfast in Santa Monica and cooking with her. Miss having her spend a weekend with us. I have the desk, dresser and rug we bought her stored in the garage at the office waiting for her return.
When we hugged and kissed at LAX, I said to her, "Don't do anything I wouldn't have done at your age, then realized my mistake and told her to forget it." She gave me another hug, smiled and went in the terminal. We are going to see her in Europe this winter.
Be safe, have fun and dammit study! We love you with all our hearts, Ms S.
You are a wonderful Grandfather and feel so blessed that you had that 10 months together. As I looked at the full moon last night, I marveled at the thought of her somewhere over the Atlantic, looking out at the same full moon, hopefully remembering all the amazing full moons that had brought her to that point. It was a strange and poignant moment for me, her mother, filled with gratitude to have such an independent adventurous child as a million memories of her came flooding into my heart. We are blessed, truly.
ReplyDeleteThere is a guy out there who looks an awful lot like her Grandfather with pre mature grey hair that is going to want to do all the things her Grandfather tended to do. How does Bobby feel about that. (-:
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