We recovered from the farewell party and all of the sugar. On Monday morning, the boys wrote thank-you cards for gifts received from friends: JT Taylor, the soccer coach, gave the boys each one soccer boot that he had inscribed (he had loaned his boots to one of the boys); Kevin Prevost, the assistant coach, gave them each a training jacket (he had loaned the boys the jackets during the year); the athletic director gave them their MVHS baseball jersies and his wife helped Rasmus pack; Marie Gauvin, the animated and uber-active mom, made the boys memory boxes with a collage of photos covering the boxes (she and her son Curtis will host next year!); their friend Tucker gave them USA hats with hand-made gift certificates for when they return (e.g., cash this in for a hunting trip ); they received books and cards and money... but most of all they received a lot of love from good friends, young and old.
In the early afternoon, we drove around town dropping off cards and returning food dishes. We ate lunch at Dick's Pizza in Mexico. Back at home, the boys played pass with a baseball, slung a frisbee, and made the long 2-minute walk over to Aunt Connie's and Uncle Ben's to say farewell. Is it ever easy to say good-bye to people who have cared for you so completely for nearly a year?
Each year that I host, I ask the boys what they want for their last meal. Most times it's Mac-&-Cheese mixed with beef. It's an American staple and the quintessential comfort food. Later in the evening we watched an Adam Sandler movie called The Cobbler and the last 9 minutes of the Stanley Cup--Chicago won. I went to bed and the boys continued their marathon watching of The Office.
This morning, for the last time, I'll wake up the boys to prepare for the 80-minute drive to Portland. We'll take a final "family picture" here at home. I hope Bailey will cooperate.
In the early afternoon, we drove around town dropping off cards and returning food dishes. We ate lunch at Dick's Pizza in Mexico. Back at home, the boys played pass with a baseball, slung a frisbee, and made the long 2-minute walk over to Aunt Connie's and Uncle Ben's to say farewell. Is it ever easy to say good-bye to people who have cared for you so completely for nearly a year?
Each year that I host, I ask the boys what they want for their last meal. Most times it's Mac-&-Cheese mixed with beef. It's an American staple and the quintessential comfort food. Later in the evening we watched an Adam Sandler movie called The Cobbler and the last 9 minutes of the Stanley Cup--Chicago won. I went to bed and the boys continued their marathon watching of The Office.
This morning, for the last time, I'll wake up the boys to prepare for the 80-minute drive to Portland. We'll take a final "family picture" here at home. I hope Bailey will cooperate.