Jake had better learn to snuggle (Subtitled: And so it begins)

Hannah is leaving me. I knew it had to happen someday but I never suspected it would be so soon. Hannah is packing up and moving to Seattle. Okay, so not really. She's just going to visit Grandma and Grandpa but it still sucks for everyone but her. Let's not even discuss how this will affect Jake. After all, he wasn't happy about her going to her friend's house for a sleepover last week. Let's focus on me. I am so excited that Hannah will get this opportunity this summer but she's going to be gone for three weeks. THREE WEEKS people!!!! When she leaves us two weeks from Friday she won't be back until August 15th. Holy Long Time Batman!

Let's back up....

Lincoln and I are packing up the kids and driving to Iowa in a few weeks. Mom and Dad will be there at the same time because they're coming back to visit for a week before they have to go down to Des Moines where Dad will be teaching a class the following week. They are then coming out here in August when Dad will be teaching a class up at Ft. Devens here in Massachusetts. So the plan is that we will hand Hannah over to Grandma and Grandpa in Decorah at the end of our vacation and she will continue on with them down to Des Moines for a week. They'll also be visiting my cousin Bob in Cedar Rapids and I think they have a few other plans as well. At the end of that week they'll fly back to Seattle with Hannah where she'll stay with them until they come out to Boston on August 15th (missing my birthday, I might add!). The bitch of it is that I can't really complain too much because it was originally my idea. I suggested it when we were all together out in California at the beginning of March but I never really thought Mom and Dad would go for it. Mom called me last week and said they'd been thinking more about it and that it sounded like a great idea. Obviously I need to learn to keep my mouth shut.

In all seriousness though I think this is a fantastic opportunity for Hannah. She is absolutely going to love being with Grandma and Grandpa for 3 weeks and she'll also get to spend time with her cousins out in Seattle. I think in the long run it will also be a good thing for Jake once he gets over the fact that Hannah isn't going to be around for almost a month. The real problem is going to be the fact that she's going with Grandma and Grandpa, not just that she's going away. He is going to be SO pissed that he doesn't get to go too. It should make driving home with just him in the car that much more delightful. (I really hope you could note the sarcasm in that last sentence.) I think we may need to do a secret hand off in a dark alley so that Jake doesn't see who she is going off with. Does Decorah have any dark alleys? I might need to research that.

While I'm excited for Hannah I'm going to miss her terribly. I guess this is a good start for learning how to deal with her absence for longer and longer periods of time. Eventually she'll be off to college so maybe I should take the next 10 years and slowly building up to that day.

That being said, don't think I haven't been trying to talk her out of it. Unfortunately she has an answer for everything.

ATTEMPT ONE:

Me: But who is going to snuggle with me when you're gone? If I try to snuggle with Jake I'll be black and blue by the time you get back.

Hannah: You can snuggle with Boog (her favorite teddy bear). I'll leave him behind for you.

ATTEMPT TWO:

Me: What about the pool? That's a long time that you could be home here swimming in the pool.

Hannah: Yeah but Grandma and Grandpa have a hot tub.