Party Day

Lots of fun, spent my morning getting ready, then went overboard with the food once everyone arrived, as usual.
Cantaloupe, grapes, raspberries, blackberries, strawberries, cherries, baby carrots, 3 types of chips, potato salad, macaroni salad, pasta salad, hot dogs, bratwursts, and hamburgers, cheese, pickles, pop, juice, water, sautéed onions & mushrooms...it was a feast!
We visited, chatted, laughed, remembered, hoped, and joked together. A fabulous family visit, and a new set of fond memories of people that we'll be leaving behind.
We watched the kids romp in the house, from game system to game system, movie to TV, and all the toys in between. Then they embarked outside where we put up a ($5) sprinkler snake. They ran about the yard, played catch & softball, and then got wet running through the sprinkler before collapsing inside for cake & ice cream and starting it all over again. Kids are amazing.

I get the sense that we'll be leaving soon, but I'm a don't believe it till it happens kinda gal, and though 9 days isn't much, it feels like a million years.
It's weird to say that now. 9 days until we head for the West, where we'll spend one week (or so) looking for a new vehicle to last us up North. I don't know whether to panic, cry, be super dee super excited, or just remain uninvolved. It's really confusing. If you go back to my entries to the beginning of '08, I do nothing but mope & moan about how homesick and stupid I felt. In truth, I still am homesick, but not in the same sense. I don't miss the usual way of life there, but I do strongly miss the people. They were what made my home, home. I'm looking forward to seeing them all again, the celebrations we have, the food we make and eat, the times we share together. I'm apprehensive about my vacation ending.
The grass will always be greener on the other side for me. I despise staying at home right now, for the main reason that I didn't have a choice. I'm not legal, not valid, therefore have absolutely no say in how I choose to support my family. I want to work right now. When I get back home, I'll have no choice as to how I support my family. I won't be able to take time off like now, because I'll have to work to support my family. It's frustrating that there really isn't a happy medium.
Yes, it'll be easier once we get Mr his paperwork running through, and we're truly hoping that he'll be able to work within a few weeks, but I'm not going to hold my breath. This is one situation that I refuse to have hope for. The best I can hope for is that he'll be able to file at all. The worst, that it will be no better than before...I'll get stuck in a job I absolutely can't stand because it pays well and my family needs the money for a never ending pile of debt that threatens to swallow us whole. I'm actually expecting them to stop him from crossing the border at all, but I can't stand crossing the border, so that's just extra negativity adding to that mix.