At our farewell at the office
Wow. After almost two years, we have left our life in Ciudad Juarez. It’s still unbelievable.
The week leading up to the move was busy and, for the most part, fun. Last Sunday, our friend Neal had a small wine and cheese get-together in the afternoon for us and a few friends. It was relaxing and the cheese was yummy.
Monday morning was not so relaxing. We woke up to about two inches of water completely covering the downstairs! Water was still gushing from one of the toilets where the line had broken during the night. Everything dried out pretty well – we were happy that most of our stuff had already been moved out, so we just lost a book or two and a few other things. It was not how we wanted to start the week, though!
That night, we had dinner at Corralito’s with our friends Keith and Whitney, whom we have really enjoyed getting to know.
Our Principal Officer Ray and his wife Patty invited us over on Wednesday night for fondue. It was nice to have a chance to visit with them outside of the office before we left. I’ve worked with Patty on several events – she is a dynamo and so personable.
Thursday was our last day in the office. In the afternoon, the consular section all gathered together for a farewell party. Our Deputy Principal Officer gave us a nice farewell speech and everyone signed a card for us. I didn’t have a chance to eat cake (even my favorite coconut that was on the table) because we were hugging everyone (and yes, by that time I was crying like a baby). We’ve made so many good friends in Juarez, especially the local staff. Several of them were crying, too, so, of course, I didn’t stand a chance! It was really, really sweet.
After a last dinner at Corralito’s (where we said goodbye to the manager, Raul, who always took such good care of us), we went home to do our final packing for the car trip.
We finished packing up on Friday morning and drove for the last time (at least for a long time) across the Zaragoza port-of-entry. We drove pretty much non-stop to Weatherford, just outside of Ft. Worth, where we spent the night. Flavia did well on the trip – I gave her a sedative, so she slept most of the way.
We got into Hot Springs around 4 PM yesterday, and immediately went out for pizza and beer with David, Alison and their fun friend Diane at a little dive on the lake. David is heading back to Diego Garcia this morning, so I was especially happy to get to see him for a little bit.
So! Here we are at Mom’s house. She is fostering a cute little kitten, but Flavie isn’t too thrilled about that. We’ll see how that goes! It’s great to be back for a while!
A groggy Flavia in Texarkana