And just like that...

And just like that, Jessica's visit has ended.
Ten wonderful days will never be enough, but I'm so incredibly thankful for every second.
It's such an odd dynamic, these short visits from my daughter.
Stressful, exciting, wonderful and soul nourishing.





As her arrival got closer, I got more and more wound up.
I was so tightly strung that I would burst into tears at the most random times for months before she arrived.  I think we waited way too long between visits.  Fifteen months is the longest I've ever gone between hugs and it was unbearable.




And then finally she was here!  I was once again complete.
I no longer held on to my phone as a lifeline and connection. 
If I wanted to know that she was okay, I just had to glance over at that gorgeous smile.
I laughed a little more freely and slept a little more deeply while she was so close.

We kept pretty busy.  Brunch to introduce her to our London friends.  BBC Proms in the Park.  Paris!

Charlie & the Chocolate Factory.  Pub Dinners.  London Scavenger Hunt.

But we also just spent a few days relaxing at home and doing nothing.

I tried not to feel guilty that we weren't filling every minute with London attractions,

but I think we both just needed to be together with nothing else happening.

We fell right back into normal patterns that we've been spent her lifetime developing.
I nagged.  She pushed my buttons.  There may have been some eye-rolling on both our parts.
We both spent time looking at our phones that we could have spent talking to each other instead.
We slept.  (Girl can sleep!)  Again, I tried not to feel guilty that every second wasn't spent intently focused on each other.  But, that's just not realistic, is it?




From the minute I spotted her walking through the doors of arrivals at Heathrow,
I felt like a clock the size of Big Ben had lodged itself in my heart.
Tick.  She's here!   Tock.  She's leaving soon.
Tick.  I can breathe!   Tock.  Only ten days.
Of course, they flew by.  She's now home in Texas living her life.
I'm here living mine, admittedly after a low few days of readjusting to her absence.

And there is a new quiet, steady ticking in my heart.
Tick.  She's not here.  Tock.  I'll see her soon.
Tick.  I can't breathe.  Tock.  Only 12 weeks.

I love you madly, Child of MIne!!!
I'll see you soon.

xoxo
Mom

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