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There and Back Again
Oct. 22nd, 2023 07:48 amThis week, work had me fly back up to Michigan for Team Bonding and other social things that are both Necessary, Sure, but also Exhausting. Since it's about a day's travel each way just to get there, I hold the bar high to make it worth my time. For example, back in June they flew me out for two days, but then decided to faff around and call a half day and not actually get anything done and I was pretty pissed.
But this time, they definitely did better. Two 8+ hour days of actual planning & brainstorming, as well as the Necessary Bonding, which felt like a much better use of my time. Perhaps it was also meeting the 20+ new coworkers we added to our team (we went from 10 to 30 in the span of a few months, mostly because we decided to absorb all the trainers scattered amongst the various departments) and that was good because, as the Remote Person, they already knew me but I didn't know them at all.
Really, though, what made this trip better is that Dr Lady brought our kiddos up a day after I got there. Cabin Girl has been asking pretty much since we left Michigan to go back, and we'd never really had a chance to do that. But this time, we made it happen as her main birthday present, even figuring out how to avoid missing as many days of school as possible (catch the flight right after school, natch).
The only downside is that I then spent most of the first day worrying about their travel and checking my phone for updates. As if there were a thing in the world I could have done to help if anything had gone wrong. And a few things did, but they made it and I picked them up from the airport and fed them and brought them to the hotel, which I only belatedly realized was mostly full of other professionals who were definitely *not* expecting little kids. :| ...oops
Dr Lady had the kids on her own the next day, as I had the aforementioned second 8+ hour day of meetings. That... did not go well. Between the cold and the rain it was hard to do anything at all, because why would a cold & rainy city have any decent indoor places or even just partially covered playgrounds??
Added on top of that, one of the reasons CG has been begging to come back to Michigan was to see her bestie again, so Dr Lady had been trying to get in touch with said bestie's mom and after much nail-pulling gotten a time and place to meet up... only to be 20min late because Kids, and bestie & her mom had already left. Not because they couldn't wait 20min, but because apparently 20min was the only time they had and the only reason we were even going to meet where we were was because the mom had errands to run there. Which. What. Did she really think two little girls who hadn't seen each other in 3 years were going to be satisfied with a drive-by waving situation like that??
Anyway, after all that disappointment and frustration, Dr Lady moved heaven and earth to get the contact info of bestie's dad (seriously, wizard work at this point, I'm still in awe) and CG got to not only see bestie but actually hang out with her for almost two hours and it was Good. It took just 20min for CG to get over her nerves, so I'm retroactively grateful they ended up missing each other the first time because wow, that would not have worked well.
So! CG got to see her bestie, which I'm curious to see how/if that changes her attitude around leaving Michigan at all, and helps her realize that the friendships she has here in Florida are just as meaningful and important to her.
Plus, she also got to see the old house, the old playground, and even the empty lot where her old daycare used to be. The last was really depressing for all of us, because a) that was such a great daycare and b) they'd hurriedly shoved everyone out and bulldozed it to build something for the hospital, so the fact that three years later it's still just empty land... yeah. Basically: wtf.
Anyway, her mood was pretty deflated after all that, and she kept complaining about how cold it was (fair: it was in the 40s), and even mentioned wanting to go home to Florida a few times. Which is... yeah, I think what we wanted out of this trip. Closure for her, for Dr Lady too, and maybe a better appreciation for where we are now. I'm really curious to talk to her about this trip in the coming days/weeks, to hear what her experience of it was, and also to see if she stops asking us why we left. Leaving the only home she'd ever known was never going to be easy, and especially during a pandemic when none of us could really say goodbye properly. I hope we were able to give that to her. As weird of a present that might be, I hope some day, eventually, she'll understand how important it was.
And now: it's just good to be home again. And to be glad that this sunny, damp, swampy, and gator-filled place is our home.
But this time, they definitely did better. Two 8+ hour days of actual planning & brainstorming, as well as the Necessary Bonding, which felt like a much better use of my time. Perhaps it was also meeting the 20+ new coworkers we added to our team (we went from 10 to 30 in the span of a few months, mostly because we decided to absorb all the trainers scattered amongst the various departments) and that was good because, as the Remote Person, they already knew me but I didn't know them at all.
Really, though, what made this trip better is that Dr Lady brought our kiddos up a day after I got there. Cabin Girl has been asking pretty much since we left Michigan to go back, and we'd never really had a chance to do that. But this time, we made it happen as her main birthday present, even figuring out how to avoid missing as many days of school as possible (catch the flight right after school, natch).
The only downside is that I then spent most of the first day worrying about their travel and checking my phone for updates. As if there were a thing in the world I could have done to help if anything had gone wrong. And a few things did, but they made it and I picked them up from the airport and fed them and brought them to the hotel, which I only belatedly realized was mostly full of other professionals who were definitely *not* expecting little kids. :| ...oops
Dr Lady had the kids on her own the next day, as I had the aforementioned second 8+ hour day of meetings. That... did not go well. Between the cold and the rain it was hard to do anything at all, because why would a cold & rainy city have any decent indoor places or even just partially covered playgrounds??
Added on top of that, one of the reasons CG has been begging to come back to Michigan was to see her bestie again, so Dr Lady had been trying to get in touch with said bestie's mom and after much nail-pulling gotten a time and place to meet up... only to be 20min late because Kids, and bestie & her mom had already left. Not because they couldn't wait 20min, but because apparently 20min was the only time they had and the only reason we were even going to meet where we were was because the mom had errands to run there. Which. What. Did she really think two little girls who hadn't seen each other in 3 years were going to be satisfied with a drive-by waving situation like that??
Anyway, after all that disappointment and frustration, Dr Lady moved heaven and earth to get the contact info of bestie's dad (seriously, wizard work at this point, I'm still in awe) and CG got to not only see bestie but actually hang out with her for almost two hours and it was Good. It took just 20min for CG to get over her nerves, so I'm retroactively grateful they ended up missing each other the first time because wow, that would not have worked well.
So! CG got to see her bestie, which I'm curious to see how/if that changes her attitude around leaving Michigan at all, and helps her realize that the friendships she has here in Florida are just as meaningful and important to her.
Plus, she also got to see the old house, the old playground, and even the empty lot where her old daycare used to be. The last was really depressing for all of us, because a) that was such a great daycare and b) they'd hurriedly shoved everyone out and bulldozed it to build something for the hospital, so the fact that three years later it's still just empty land... yeah. Basically: wtf.
Anyway, her mood was pretty deflated after all that, and she kept complaining about how cold it was (fair: it was in the 40s), and even mentioned wanting to go home to Florida a few times. Which is... yeah, I think what we wanted out of this trip. Closure for her, for Dr Lady too, and maybe a better appreciation for where we are now. I'm really curious to talk to her about this trip in the coming days/weeks, to hear what her experience of it was, and also to see if she stops asking us why we left. Leaving the only home she'd ever known was never going to be easy, and especially during a pandemic when none of us could really say goodbye properly. I hope we were able to give that to her. As weird of a present that might be, I hope some day, eventually, she'll understand how important it was.
And now: it's just good to be home again. And to be glad that this sunny, damp, swampy, and gator-filled place is our home.
