Yes, this was exactly what I said when I talked to Cecilia about a week ago to find out that she was leaving for California in a little over a week. Her living in Jacksonville has seemed way too far away. But California? It feels like another planet.
She left this past Sunday and will be there for 2 months (possibly 3) as she fills in at the Laguna Nigel Ritz Carlton doing her same job as she did at the Reynold’s Ritz Carlton.
Because of the quick timing and the whole “i have a job” thing, we couldn’t make plans to go and see her before she left, but fortunately she took a few days to come here. We packed in many hours of visiting and allowed Brittain to stay up waaaay past her bedtime. It was a great visit, which made her leaving that much more difficult. The night she arrived back to Jacksonville we chatted online for a few minutes. I told her that as sad as I was about her going, it was crazy how I was even more sad for Brittain. She made me laugh telling me the story how she made the mistake of listening to every sad song she could find on her way home, so all she did was cry. That’s so us. As if we’re not sad enough, we’re going to force ourselves into making sure we are the saddest we can possibly be.
The family got together for her “farewell” dinner. I love this first picture. It was right when Cecilia arrived and everyone went straight to her for a big group hug:
