Farewell...

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The eve of Dina's departure we threw a party in her honor. She referred to the night as her graduation party but to us it was a going away event. To call it a party though would make it sound as if we were ready for her to leave. And that just wasn't so. Whatever you call it, the thoughts on everyone's mind became quite obviously. As the sun began to set, the hugs and tears began and this party was most definitely a goodbye.


Not unlike CJ, Dina is not a big fan of meat. So why bother with taco bars and BBQ sandwiches, we supplied the good stuff... dessert, an ice cream bar to be exact. And what a delicious ice cream bar it was. Someone enjoyed the toppings so much she was often seen snatching goodies straight from their bowls.


Dina and I busted our tails measuring, cutting, paper punching and eventually stringing a banner together. We worked on that baby for so long we thought for sure the banner would stretch half a mile long (or 0.8 km - that's for you, Dina). Turns out, however, our banner wasn't all that long and maybe that was okay because the wind whipped all night.



Did I mention the day of her party was 90+ degrees and an hour or so before the party was set to begin the power cut out. Dina made a mad dash to find someone with functioning electricity to straighten her hair while I begged our ice creams to not melt. The little girls didn't seem to mind. They just twirled themselves cool in the driveway.


But the power eventually returned, Dina's hair was beautifully straight and our guests never knew we were scrambling just minutes before their arrival.











As the hours sped by and the party's end was near everyone got a little emotional. We were no longer counting down days left with Dina, we were at mere hours. So everyone hugged...a lot.


Even those who weren't traveling overseas hugged one another. I guess love was in the air.






Dina's party was certainly a night to remember, and yet it was just a small slice of the pie. We created lots of great memories with Dina in our lives this past year. I'm thrilled her final night with us was one a whole lot of other people will remember too.


Comments

Great Gramma Smith said…
That must have been a great party.
June 18, 2012 at 12:44 PM
J-D-K-G said…
That is so sweet, Sarah! Everything looked wonderful.
June 18, 2012 at 2:17 PM
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