Manila

ok, time to write about it.

It's been one year, give or take two weeks, since I left for Manila.

Before I could get on the plane, I got us out of our lease, packed the apartment and moved and unpacked us into the house we'd planned to close on in September.  Dan dealt with all of the insurance bullshit. Of course, after all of our claims and burglaries in KC, no one would insure us up here. It was almost a disaster--you can't buy a house if you can't insure it--but we found a company and life went on.

I went through all of the visa filings and went to Iowa to say goodbye to my family for the next 12 weeks.

It was hard to say goodbye to Dan. The longest we'd ever been apart since he moved in January 2005 was about 2 weeks while I was in Greece.  It was hard to even make the decision to go away for 3 months, but it was also a great opportunity to see another country and travel in Asia for work. And we were able to afford to send Dan with me for a week,  and we'd end up on vacation in Philippines for our anniversary.

So after a lot of talks with my boss, I got on the plane. First class travelers get 3 suitcases and unlimited carryons, I found out. After a 10K plane ticket, you'd damn well better get that. I brought an extra suitcase for Melody and some other items for Kaili. I carried with me a wedding present for another friend in the Philippines.

Dan helped me check in and then...we were at the security gate. I suck at saying goodbye. I'd already nearly cried in the grocery store because I was going to miss him a lot for 3 months, and he would be in our new house and I would be.....somewhere else.

And there I was, at the gate, with my coffee and realizing this was it, Dan can't come any farther with me. I turned to him, kissed him and said I'd see him soon. And then I walked through security with my 40000 carry on suitcases and fully charged kindle.
Alone.