Adventures in Ecuador

Forgot to tell you about this Excellent blog.... Adventures in Ecuador. A friend of ours is in Ecuador for two years with the Peace Corps. Kara Pillsbury babysat for me for most of one summer, and is a very dedicated and adventurous youngest child from an energetic, close-knit family here in Haverhill. Kara has quickly taken on the role of Professora in the tiny village in Ecuador where she is serving. If you go through the pictures, you will have an idea of the incredible poverty and bare conditions in which the villagers live. She is doing a remarkable job in spite of the limited resources available. It's a huge reminder of exactly how fortunate we all are.

Pre-Holiday Musings

As Christmas and New Year's approach, I'm trying to enjoy the moment.

I had this conversation with a friend last night who told me about one of her daughter's most significant (measurable) successes. I was so happy for her, yet sure of the reality that the recognition and pride would be short-lived, since it came during the holiday season and in the middle of a chaotic time for everyone. Make sure you enjoy this, I thought. Because ... you know that something will happen soon that will make you forget all about this accomplishment, and that happening will draw you back to stress and misgivings about what the future holds and how to surmount difficult events that somehow inevitably arise.

So, this holiday season I'm trying to enjoy the string of moments, as each one happens. Trying not to worry about what's on the schedule for tomorrow, making sure I focus on what's right in front of me.

I understand this isn't entirely possible. Let's face it. We moms are largely responsible most of the logistics of the holidays, from decorating to gift-giving, to gift buying. Not to mention the cooking; just planning the menu takes time and consideration. All of these tasks take a lot of planning to be successful (even when you put husbands in charge of very specific items....thanks, honey!).

I have to believe it's possible to spend some significant quality time enjoying the wonderful things that happen to coincide with the holidays. Like my brother's arrival home, for example. Like the kids' recent academic and swimming successes. Like college acceptances and job successes. Like the fact that all the kids are healthy -- no small accomplishment! Like the fact that no family member is in the hospital. Like the fact that I'm about to have a great niece or nephew! Like the fact that my daughter has lately been developing a great sense of humor! Like the fact that I am enjoying my children more than ever, as it seems they're turning into people I want to hang out with instead of ones I want to avoid. Like the fact that my sister and best friends are coming for New Year's Eve (oops, just got way ahead of myself...).

There's still plenty of time to pull together a successful Christmas celebration. Still plenty of time to get out cards, packages and holiday wishes. Still plenty of time to plan a New Year's Eve celebration. And still plenty of time to get stressed about a To Do list that gets longer as the number of days get shorter. So ....

Congratulations, Ellery! Congratulations (early) to Denis and Sara! And Congratulations to everyone else who has achieved something Awesome that might be not recognized as quite so fabulous merely because it happened while everyone was so busy "celebrating" the holidays.

Mission Accomplished!

We Did It.

This weekend, through the joint effort of my brothers, my sister, and their families (some of them unwittingly), we managed to pull off one of the greatest surprises -- one of the greatest events -- in our history as a family. No, it wasn't an elopement or a surprise birthday, a new baby or a special gift. In fact, it didn't have anything to do with any one or any thing other than the four of us, the Four Patrick Children, united in a common cause, driving through five states (and flying across oceans) at breakneck speed to fulfill a mission our father no doubt would have fulfilled himself had he been alive.

Weeks ago, when I suggested a Patrick Sibling Road Trip down to Patuxent River, Maryland to meet my brother's plane upon arrival from his six-month deployment overseas, I truly had no idea if we could pull it off. All of the pieces of the puzzle would have to come together perfectly for us to meet his plane Friday night in Pax River. Most importantly, the return on Rob's end would have to take place exactly as the Navy had planned; in other words, he'd have to leave the Seychelles on time, then arrive in Italy on time, then fly to the Azores on time, and then depart for and arrive in Maryland on time. Four days of flawlessly executed departure flights. The fact that any of those one connections could go wrong would make our plans moot. Whether or not we were able to pull off our end of the plan didn't really matter if either weather or mechanical issues arose to delay Rob's flight. In fact, the necessary arrangements on our end seemed ridiculously easy by comparison. We only had to arrange for our spouses to manage the kids and their activities for the weekend and then find our way down to Pax River. (The three of us noted, more than once, that this was a trip that all of our spouses had supported 100%; Bill, John and Kristin clearly knew how important this was to us, and didn't once try in any way to dissuade us from our objective.)

The three of us were all in a bit of denial, though, about our ability to achieve the most crucial aspect of meeting Rob's plane: getting ourselves physically onto the Pax River Naval Base without any help from our brother or his wife, both of whom have always been the essential source of information for all things Navy-related.

After driving well over the speed limit through MA, CT, NY, NJ, and finally MD, we arrived at Pax River at 9 pm. Right on time. We understood from email communications that Rob's plane was due to arrive some time between 7 and 11 pm (Matt actually calculated distance and time from the Azores to Pax River). However, when we arrived at Gate 2 at the Base, it became obvious to us all that smart talking, valid ID's, and plying the guards with gourmet cookies, were not going to suffice to get us onto the Base to actually meet the plane. We needed information we didn't have, such as "Which squadron is your brother's squadron attached to while he's here in Pax River?" Hello? "Attached to?" Who ever heard of such a thing? How on earth would we know that?

Instead of giving in to the agony of defeat and detouring to our hotel while awaiting a call from Rob to tell us he had landed, we Stayed The Course. We sat in our car alongside the guard booth and didn't move. We had decided joking around with the guards wouldn't work (though we did briefly considered acting in a way that would get us arrested and therefore onto the Base,where Rob would eventually have to come and rescue us). Quick thinking had us repeatedly showing the guards our emails from Rob, which cc'd names and offered details we couldn't have gotten from anyone other than Rob. It eventually became obvious to the guards that either we were three complete lunatics driving a Lexus SUV around the Eastern Shore of Maryland while stalking a Navy flier, or we were who we said we were. In spite of this, we still ended up sitting in our car for almost an hour, until the guards in the booth came up with the necessary creative thinking (Yes, the Base log indicated a P-3 plane had landed that night; Yes, it was in Pax River just overnight; and Yes, there was an XO with the same last name as Matt's on the plane) to actually get us an escort onto the base and right up to the hangar where Rob's plane had landed minutes before.

Other than one father there to meet his engineer daughter, we three were the only ones there to meet the 17 Red Lancers on the plane arriving from the Azores. A bit surprised by this, we got out our Welcome Home XO Rob Patrick banner, and walked sheepishly into the hangar. We then saw we could actually go right out to where the plane had landed, and made our move. My sister spotted Rob first, through the plane's windshield. Shock and surprise, then a huge smile lit up his face. ("Sir, um, Sir, there's a banner out there with your name on it. Do you see that?" "Uh, oh. Oh my gosh. I think that's my brother and my sisters.")

We then waited some more, patiently, while a Pax River base officer handed us each a set of ear plugs and told us it would be several minutes while the VP-10 airmen filled out required custom forms before descending the plane. As we held the banner, Rob appeared at the top of the open stairway. He looked out, shook his head, and broke out into the biggest smile I have ever seen in my life. He was shocked, surprised, humbled, stunned. He did this 2 more times before finally descending the plane's steps to where we were waiting. By the time he made it to us for hugs and explanations, we were all teary eyed and elated. And relieved. We took pictures, met a few of his squadron mates, then left to check in to our hotel. He met us a 1/2-hour later, we laughed and hugged some more, then ate late-night Wendy's (it was midnight by this time and none of us had eaten in over 8 hours; the only other places open at that time appeared completely sketchy and we knew better than to push our luck in search of fine cuisine). We had breakfast together the next morning, more laughs, more hugs, and then a wave good-bye as Rob headed off for the flight -- finally -- back to Jacksonville. The rest of VP-10 arrives in Jacksonville to a huge welcoming today and Wednesday. No doubt their celebration will last well into Christmas and through New Year's.

I had each of my children call Rob last night to welcome him home. At the end of the phone call, I got on and was surprised to notice the relief evident in his voice. No clipped questions, no quick answers, and none of the edginess in his voice that I had heard in our (limited) conversations over the past several months. Though it will no doubt take him and his family some time to return to their routines and order, it sounded yesterday as if Rob didn't have a care in the world. What a nice sound it was.