Looking at Liam and knowing I was saying goodbye for 12 full days was no easy task. Luckily, he is still too young to really understand what was happening as he tried to wiggle out of his mommy’s teary death grip hug. I kissed and hugged Jason too and then waved goodbye to them as they watched from the apartment window as I walked down the street. It was an odd feeling sitting on the subway and then the train and eventually the plane to Turkey knowing that at each stage I was adding miles of distance between my baby and me.
However, the moment we (my mom, my dad, Helki, and me) arrived in Turkey I knew I had made the right decision to leave Liam at home. We basically had two full days in Istanbul during which we explored the city as much as we could in the short time and enjoyed the fanciest wedding I have ever been to. Hannah and Toros celebrated their wedding (for the third time!) at an elegant boutique hotel along the Bosphorus . We were so “along” the river that all of the guests arrived at the wedding in a boat shuttling from one bank of the river to the other. We ate and danced on the patio of the hotel under the dark night sky lit by the city lights surrounding us. Every once in a while the wake from a boat would splash a bit over the side of the patio where the tables were set up literally inches from the edge. Though it was beautiful and romantic, Liam, no doubt, would have ended up learning to swim in the river that night.
Back in new York Liam enjoyed a full day with Rachel (“Wachew”), Liam’s favorite NCCFer and pro-babysitter. The next day Carol came up to New York for a few days to help Jason out with Liam while he was at work. Then she brought Liam back to Baltimore with her where he spent the last week with his Nana, Grampa, Ethan, and his Granddad.
After the wedding, Hannah, Toros, and 17 of their friends who had traveled from all over for the wedding collected on a van back to the airport. From there we flew to Dalaman in the southern part of Turkey and hopped in another van to head for the coast. We arrived at a dock and boarded a beautiful, huge, wooden, luxurious, sailboat/yacht/ party vessel where we sat down to a delicious Turkish meal while we sailed off to a nearby cove for some night swimming. And that is pretty much what we did for the next 6 days. We moved from cove to cove, first in the Aegean Sea and then out into the Mediterranean. Each place was more beautiful than the last. The water was clear all the way down to the bottom and radiated the color blue. The mountains and hills jutted up directly out of the water with steep rocky inclines speckled with pine trees. The sun was bright and the air was hot and our entire group relaxed into a pattern of eating, swimming, and sleeping. We spent hours snorkeling and floating in the calm, salty waters. We also spent those days getting to know each other since all of us had come from different parts of Hannah and Toros’s lives. Hannah’s “host family” from France was there, Toros’s childhood friend from Turkey and his Californian wife, Hannah’s friend from Cameroon, and then quite a few people from the DC area as well.
Breai and Vincent, two of Hannah’s friends had brought their two year old son along. Mason is cutest, sweetest, and most easy-going two year old on the planet. Having a little snuggly toddler running around definitely made me miss Liam more. However, it again showed me that leaving Liam had been the right thing to do. Mason adapted to life on the boat quickly. He also heeded warnings not to go near the edge of the boat, climb on equipment, or run on the deck. I am pretty sure Liam would have been doing all of those things despite warnings. I also think sleeping in the hot cabins or on the boat deck (which most of us did at night) would have posed a tricky situation for Liam the not-so-great-sleeper. My point is that the guilt of leaving Liam behind faded away and I thoroughly enjoyed and took advantage of the break from parenting. Jason, on the other hand, was sorely missed. He would have had a fabulous time and I would have really liked to share the experience with him.
After the boat, we began the epic journey back home. First we got back on the van, then puddle-jumped on a plane back to Istanbul, then into a cab to a hotel to enjoy 4 hours of sleep before heading back to the airport again for our flight to London. After a five hour layover in London and a delayed flight back to Baltimore, my eagerness to get back to Liam had reached an all-time high. Carol and Tim were keeping Liam up past his bedtime so that I could see him as soon as we arrived. We took a cab from BWI to Catonsville, I dumped my stuff in the house, grabbed my dad’s car, and drove straight to the Steele’s. I walked into the house and found Liam upstairs with Ethan, both bathed and ready for bed and enjoying some Tim-entertainment. When Liam saw me he smiled a little and then just stared at me for a few seconds. Finally, I picked him up and hugged him and he laid his little head on my shoulder and I felt his whole body relax. He was totally still as I hugged him and it was the sweetest feeling to have him in my arms again. I scooped him up, thanked Carol and Tim profusely, and then we headed back to my parents house. There he slept in the bed with me and woke up in the morning with a huge grin and then a giggle when he realized I was sleeping next to him. Later that day we caught a train back to New York where we reunited with Jason. Only then did Liam give any indication that being away from both of his parents for this extended time had even registered with him. As Jason and I were bustling around trying to unpack and get dinner ready, Liam responded to the chaos by standing in the middle of his room and wailing “mooooommmmyyy!” Both Jason and I rushed into his room to find tears streaming down his face. As soon as we were both in, he quickly closed both his bedroom doors trapping us in the room with him. Then he calmed down. It was as if he were telling us both to stay put now.
So now we’re back in NY and trying to enjoy the rest of the summer until Liam’s school begins again. I should be working on my dissertation, but am instead staying home with Liam all day, every day since we don’t have any child care right now. Although I’m antsy to get to work, I am also enjoying the time together with Liam. Since the summer began, there has not been one dull moment. The broken leg, the move, the traveling, and all of the weddings have provided us with lots of adventure. Now we have a routine again - - complete with regular meals, naps, and bedtimes. And I think all three of us are enjoying the predictability and stability of that.
P.S. Shout out to Helki! It’s her birthday today!!
While Liam was doing this:
....Mommy was doing this:
1 comment:
very, very cool, Nina. Although, I would have been puking the entire time on the boat.
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