I’m writing this somewhere over the Atlantic I think. Eastern seaboard at least.

Milly woke up early then went back to bed and didn’t get up again until Amanda went into her room. I think that was around 9.

We all got up and went to McDonald’s for breakfast then came home where Amanda and I finished getting things ready for the trip. I also got a haircut.

Milly wanted to play different things throughout the morning, and I wish I’d had time to really spend with her. She told me I was missing Little Einsteins and wanted to play hot potato and tea party. Amanda got to play tea party with her at least. By the time I was ready to play she was ready to start her adventure.

Harvey knew something was up. He was getting buggy like he does when he knows we’re going somewhere. Maybe it’s the luggage.

We took Milly to Brilliant Sky, mainly because I wanted to get some inserts for my boots. (They’re too big and we didn’t bring scissors, so I’ll have to trim them when I get to London.) Anna met us there to pick Milly up. Milly didn’t mind that we were leaving- she was ready to go hang with Anna, which is cool. She did give me “lots of kisses” though. Amanda was teary, but she did better than I thought she’d do. As for me, I felt like if I talked much I’d choke up, so I didn’t talk much for a bit. And just when I thought I was fine I’d imagine Milly wrapping her little arms around my neck.

I had the idea of taking Milly to the park or something before we left, but it rained off and on all morning, and it rained hard. It was no different on the road. We had to slow down a lot two or three times and got stuck behind an accident (I think) for a bit. Amanda had to lee really bad at that point. We were four miles from the next exit and she was about to burst. She had to go so bad that she was about to lee in a cup, and might have if I didn’t tell her I was going to take a picture. She was trying to get me to pull over to the side of the road thinking she could hide between the doors or something, but fortunately the traffic started moving again at that point and we made it to the exit.

The long term parking is no longer free, which we didn’t know, but paying $66 or $72 for a trip to Europe isn’t so bad. That said, had we known the price we’d have parked at Williams’s house, which isn’t far from the airport. Ona and Peter dropped him off. Then again, we would have been delayed a bit if we came with him. We were texting and he was at the airport by the time we were in the security line, but check-in took him forever. I met up with him when he got to the gates, but our plane was boarding by the time we got some food.

I called Anna to talk to Milly while we were in line to board. She was playing with some of Kirsten’s old toys that Anna had found. Most of Milly’s side of the conversation consisted of “Yeah.” Still, I just wanted to talk to her before we left.

I also talked to both of my arenas and Baba earlier. It was hard to hear Baba as I was talking to her in the airport and she’s not terribly loud. Still, she seemed pretty clear. I mainly wanted to call since I won’t be able to call on her birthday since we won’t be back yet.

William was in row 20 and Amanda and I were in 41, but Amanda asked the girl sitting with us if she’d mind switching with William, and she said she didn’t, so he’s sitting to my left right now with Amanda to my right.

I read The Hedge Knight by George R. R. Martin, a story that takes place in the world of A Song of Ice and Fire. We all took some natural sleeping pills, and at 9:30 I feel like its a bit later. Amanda’s either asleep or trying to be, and I think I’m going to give it a go too. Our hope is that we can get a decent sleep because our plane lands around 7am London time, so hopefully it’ll ameliorate the jet lag some.

Here’s to it.

Zach Dotsey