This is my first time to experience jet lag. Yesterday wasn't too bad. I did wake up at 3 a.m. yesterday morning (9 a.m. UK time). I got up for about an hour and went back to bed and felt pretty good yesterday until about 6 o'clock. I think it hit KJ and I at the same time. At that point, I was finding it really hard to be patient with my children and referee arguments and listen to crying. I got a headache and felt like I was going to be sick but made it through until they went to bed.
I think being physically exhausted was also making me feel really emotional towards Ella. I still wrestle with a desire to just keep her home with me. We were sitting on the couch last night doing her reading homework, and she leaned against my arm and then sat up and said, "Is it okay if I lean on you?"
"Yes, that's fine."
"I've really been missing you, Mommy. I'm glad you're back."
I started crying. I'm glad I'm back, too.
I woke up early this morning but feel rested since I went to bed early. I've been praying for my precious girl and then looking through a few pictures. Here are a few of our adventures on the Underground.
This was our first stop.
We had to go pick up some passes we bought
that got us in for free at several places across the country.
What is crazy to me is how the name of each stop is so familiar to me,
but what is crazier is that they are familiar names because I've read about
these places in books that are 200 years old.
I saw a picture in front of a moving subway that I thought looked cool,
so I tried to recreate it a bit with KJ.
In the background you'll notice building underway for the Olympics next year.
We stood on this street corner for quite a while trying to figure out which direction we needed to go to pick up our British Heritage passes. This is the place where we first interacted with several local people. Coming up these steps out of the Underground a man talking on his phone dropped a 5-pound note without realizing it. KJ picked it up and brought it to him, and he was so grateful. When he finished his phone conversation a few minutes later we were still standing there looking for street numbers, and KJ asked him if he knew where the building was we were looking for. He took the time to look up a map on his phone and help us with directions. I wasn't expecting that kindness in the middle of the hustle and bustle of London, everyone walking quickly to where they needed to be. I think he felt he owed KJ a kindness in return.
Unfortunately for us, we were still having trouble finding the correct building even after looking at the map. We were turning circles at an intersection when a man walking by said, "Are you lost, mate?"
He knew exactly where we needed to go, and said he was walking that way and invited us along. As we walked and talked we learned that he had lived and worked in Tennessee for a time where he "was a member of the NRA." I thought it was funny that that was the first thing he told us when he found out we were from the States. I guess people in the UK associate us with guns.
I have a few more Underground photos, but they're all from the Baker Street stop, so I'll hold out on those and put them with our other Sherlock pictures. Writing down memories from our trip will probably be intermingled with daily happenings for a long time. There wasn't time to stop and think about them when we were gone because we were going from adventure to adventure. I'm doing my "remembering" bit by bit now.
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