ScarlettHill

Hello, Hello,

In honour of my first posting from the US I am using capital letters in most of the right places - ner!

Well, what can I say? I am so happy!!!!

Set off from home 2am on Wedesday morning. Had to repack the suitcases at midnight as we were going in mum's cute little car and when i tried to force the boot shut on all the cases the back window popped out - not all the way thankfully so I popped it back in and prayed - since mum wouldn't let me use duck tape - and packed the contents of the fifth case into the already bulging other four. Three and a half hour trip with no leg room for anyone 'cept the driver. I selflessly offered to drive Every squeak and rumble on the road and we all shouted 'suspension' in the hopes shouting it loud would confuse the car into not losing its back window. It worked. Svengali eat yer heart out!

The ride to the airport was easily the scariest part - everything else was a breeze. Long wait there as we met up with my sister and her nephew (he of the blue hair and enormous hoodies) who were flying to Egypt on holiday the same morning.

We flew Continental (oof there is no pound sign on this keyboard - ******* foreigners!) - 542 pounds one way for one adult and two children - I was expecting to travel with the bags for that price. Geat airline, very friendly and helpful, great children's meals, loads of films and radio and loads of different video games. The girls were in heaven, behaved like frequent flyers all the way. You'd never have known they hadn't flown before. All so easy.

Arrived at Newark early. Paranoia had caused me to leave a five-hour gap before the next plane in case of immigation hassle. In the event, we were waved to the front of a queue, stamped, sent to a room with our brown envelopes and processed in under 10 minutes - probably closer to 5. I complained hotly that they were supposed to take ages and what was I to do for the next five hours. They said, 'We are the INS. Everything we do is slow. But this bit was quick.' Wink. No work stamp but they gave me a work authorisation form to file in Dallas and sent me on my way saying, All you have to do now is say 'I do'. Informed them they were slightly mistaken as I had a preliminary appointment with a bottle of red first. Waved bye bye.

Collected suitcases. Managed to get my humongous jar of marmite through customs in under a minute, rechecked the baggage in and we left to find the AirTrain to the next terminal. Found a lovely guy in a red jacket and santa hat singing by the elevators. Asked him where to go and did we need to pay for the AirTrain. He was outraged and sang at us that we certainly should not pay, accompanied us, singing all the while, to the AirTrain, and wished us Bon Voyage. Someone at Terminal A later told me when he's not directing people at the airport he sings on Broadway. I can believe it - he was lovely.

Terminal A with hours to spare. Dollars burning holes in the girls' pockets so we tried to do some spending with not much success. I had a coffee in a cafe while the girls browsed a rock shop a few feet away. Came back with a bag of brightly coloured pebbles and pretty stones and told me when they tried to pay they were told to go away! Nicely! i took the stones back to the shop and asked could I pay for them. 'Certainly not! Have a nice day!'

Oof! Well the girls were looking pretty cute. They were dressed identically on my mum's advice. Then, she said, if you lose one of them on your way across the world you can just hold the other one in the air and shout, 'Have you seen one of these? Just like this one only smaller/taller!'

So, we passed a lot of time one way and another. Pretty airport dusted in snow. Friendly people. Tried to spend money again at an ice cream and sorbet stand but the guy was more interested in handing us spoons of each different flavour so we could try them all. He finally let us pay for some mango sorbet but by that time we were so full we could only manage a couple of mouthfuls.

Checked through security which was much tighter internally than for international flights. The guys at the X-Ray station reminded me of the X-Ray guy at Doc Phelans (UK medical) when he started telling us to take stuff off - 'your jackets, your shoes, your scarf, your hat, your...' I Kept waiting for him to tell us to stop when we got to the level of the skin. Thought he was joking about the chiffon scarf and shoes and hat and it took him some time to patiently get the message across that he was serious. We were allowed to keep most of our clothes on but I wasn't too worried as I was wearing my lucky knickers anyway :P

Bad weather meant the plane was late and there was a lot of turbulence but the plane was 3/4 empty so the girls got to lie down along rows of seats and sleep their way to Dallas.

Arrived about 10pm Dallas time. Welcoming party of family and friends at the airport and then home. HOME!

Garth has painted fluffy clouds and mountains and trees in a huge mural that covers all four walls and ceiling of the girls' room. The place is wonderful. The people are as lovely as I remember. The girls seem to have suffered no ill effects at all and you'd think, to watch them, they'd been living here forever.

And here is the famous line from the end of Jane Eyre.....

'Reader, I married him.....'

Last night, with a couple of friends and the minister who is letting us borrow her church for a ceremony of our own devising in 9 days' time. Champagne popping, standing in our front room with a couple of friends as witnesses to 'get the legal part done early'. So beautiful. Everybody crying... Except lizzy who dozed on the sofa in her posh new shoes.

We are all so incredibly happy. For everyone doing that long wait, hugs to you across the miles. Your day will come. And everything will have been worthwhile...

Garth's mum made us an incredible quilt for our bed (and quilts for the girls). It is beautifully detailed in orange and gold autumn colours with doves and hearts and green green leaves. It took her months to make. Lying in bed last night I thought about the quilt and how beautiful it is, and how it was lovingly made through the long, long hours, and days, and months of our wait - and how if the wait had been shorter perhaps the quilt would not have been so beautiful... It will always remind me of our time apart, and how the difficulties worked to make our relationship so strong. I wouldn't wish the waiting on anyone, and yet...

O heck I'm crying again - and smiling. I didn't know it was possible to be so happy.

Wishing every one of you joy in your journey.

love
-=-
Scarlett

abba48uk

Awwwwwwwwwww.........great stuff Scarlett. All the very best from Julie and I for your future happiness.

Patrick

Its a good story but I feel its missing something, have you thought about adding some pirates or sheep! Or even better some sheep that are actually pirates!

Just a thought!

God Bless you Scarlett and good luck in all you do.

Patrick

PeteJ

Congratulations!
Thanks for the entertaining story and thanks for putting a smile on my face. It just reinforces the fact that there is a happy ending at the end of this Long, long, long INS road.......

I hope to have my interview in London in January and fly out to NC in April to be with my beloved.

Now I am just crossing my fingers that they will let me into the country in a couple of weeks time......I am doing the dreaded visit while K-1 pending!!!! I will turn up at POE brandishing as much evidence that I do intend on returning home as possible.....!

Good luck for the future.

Pete

cindyabs

and they lived happily ever after......

Scout

Awwwwwwwwww Damn! I got tears in my eyes and I haven't even had my 2nd cup of coffee yet. I love happy endings :-). Congratulations and welcome to America!

Cheers,

Leslie

keatslamia

AWWWWWW....that quilt story is lovely, gave me a bit of a lump in the throat as i read it.
i'm so happy you're all so happy....best of luck and love to all of you

loveabrit

That was amazingly beautiful and full of hope! Thank you sweetie! Welcome to America! Land of the FREE ice cream and rocks! hehehe

Thanks for the smile and tears this morning.
Best wishes to you and your family-T.

stevelisaw

Wishing Garth, yourself and little ones much happiness.

mrsstrickland

congratulations to you all. im sure you will be very happy, have a very happy christmas


dee

Patrick

How are you doing Dee, hows it all going?

Patrick

dbark

Best congratulations Scarlett,

I am so glad everything has worked out brilliantly well for you, Garth and the girls Thanks for the story, my fav parts were the car rear windscreen falling out and the marriage quilt part was heart-warming and romantic. Can you tell I am missing Kurt?

Good luck to you and Garth for a long and happy marriage

Debbie

Rete

Congratulations Scarlett and girls. A lifetime of happiness.

Rita

jcapulet

Thanks for sharing your wonderful experience! It always makes me so happy to hear happy beginnings. Aw, I feel like I've been chopping onions (fortunately I don't smell like it)(or do i?)

Juliet

Ronald Austin

Scarlett,
CONGRATULATIONS and best wishes to you and yours! Especially appropriate for
Texas - YEEEEEEEEEHHHHAAAAAAAAAWWWWWWW!

"ScarlettGarrett" wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
    > Hello, Hello,
    > In honour of my first posting from the US I am using capital letters in
    > most of the right places - ner!
    > Well, what can I say? I am so happy!!!!
    > Set off from home 2am on Wedesday morning. Had to repack the suitcases
    > at midnight as we were going in mum's cute little car and when i tried
    > to force the boot shut on all the cases the back window popped out - not
    > all the way thankfully so I popped it back in and prayed - since mum
    > wouldn't let me use duck tape - and packed the contents of the fifth
    > case into the already bulging other four. Three and a half hour trip
    > with no leg room for anyone 'cept the driver. I selflessly offered to
    > drive Every squeak and rumble on the road and we all shouted
    > 'suspension' in the hopes shouting it loud would confuse the car into
    > not losing its back window. It worked. Svengali eat yer heart out!
    > The ride to the airport was easily the scariest part - everything else
    > was a breeze. Long wait there as we met up with my sister and her nephew
    > (he of the blue hair and enormous hoodies) who were flying to Egypt on
    > holiday the same morning.
    > We flew Continental (oof there is no pound sign on this keyboard -
    > ******* foreigners!) - 542 pounds one way for one adult and two children
    > - I was expecting to travel with the bags for that price. Geat airline,
    > very friendly and helpful, great children's meals, loads of films and
    > radio and loads of different video games. The girls were in heaven,
    > behaved like frequent flyers all the way. You'd never have known they
    > hadn't flown before. All so easy.
    > Arrived at Newark early. Paranoia had caused me to leave a five-hour gap
    > before the next plane in case of immigation hassle. In the event, we
    > were waved to the front of a queue, stamped, sent to a room with our
    > brown envelopes and processed in under 10 minutes - probably closer to
    > 5. I complained hotly that they were supposed to take ages and what was
    > I to do for the next five hours. They said, 'We are the INS. Everything
    > we do is slow. But this bit was quick.' Wink. No work stamp but they
    > gave me a work authorisation form to file in Dallas and sent me on my
    > way saying, All you have to do now is say 'I do'. Informed them they
    > were slightly mistaken as I had a preliminary appointment with a bottle
    > of red first. Waved bye bye.
    > Collected suitcases. Managed to get my humongous jar of marmite through
    > customs in under a minute, rechecked the baggage in and we left to find
    > the AirTrain to the next terminal. Found a lovely guy in a red jacket
    > and santa hat singing by the elevators. Asked him where to go and did we
    > need to pay for the AirTrain. He was outraged and sang at us that we
    > certainly should not pay, accompanied us, singing all the while, to the
    > AirTrain, and wished us Bon Voyage. Someone at Terminal A later told me
    > when he's not directing people at the airport he sings on Broadway. I
    > can believe it - he was lovely.
    > Terminal A with hours to spare. Dollars burning holes in the girls'
    > pockets so we tried to do some spending with not much success. I had a
    > coffee in a cafe while the girls browsed a rock shop a few feet away.
    > Came back with a bag of brightly coloured pebbles and pretty stones and
    > told me when they tried to pay they were told to go away! Nicely! i took
    > the stones back to the shop and asked could I pay for them. 'Certainly
    > not! Have a nice day!'
    > Oof! Well the girls were looking pretty cute. They were dressed
    > identically on my mum's advice. Then, she said, if you lose one of them
    > on your way across the world you can just hold the other one in the air
    > and shout, 'Have you seen one of these? Just like this one only
    > smaller/taller!'
    > So, we passed a lot of time one way and another. Pretty airport dusted
    > in snow. Friendly people. Tried to spend money again at an ice cream and
    > sorbet stand but the guy was more interested in handing us spoons of
    > each different flavour so we could try them all. He finally let us pay
    > for some mango sorbet but by that time we were so full we could only
    > manage a couple of mouthfuls.
    > Checked through security which was much tighter internally than for
    > international flights. The guys at the X-Ray station reminded me of the
    > X-Ray guy at Doc Phelans (UK medical) when he started telling us to take
    > stuff off - 'your jackets, your shoes, your scarf, your hat, your...' I
    > Kept waiting for him to tell us to stop when we got to the level of the
    > skin. Thought he was joking about the chiffon scarf and shoes and hat
    > and it took him some time to patiently get the message across that he
    > was serious. We were allowed to keep most of our clothes on but I wasn't
    > too worried as I was wearing my lucky knickers anyway :P
    > Bad weather meant the plane was late and there was a lot of turbulence
    > but the plane was 3/4 empty so the girls got to lie down along rows of
    > seats and sleep their way to Dallas.
    > Arrived about 10pm Dallas time. Welcoming party of family and friends at
    > the airport and then home. HOME!
    > Garth has painted fluffy clouds and mountains and trees in a huge mural
    > that covers all four walls and ceiling of the girls' room. The place is
    > wonderful. The people are as lovely as I remember. The girls seem to
    > have suffered no ill effects at all and you'd think, to watch them,
    > they'd been living here forever.
    > And here is the famous line from the end of Jane Eyre.....
    > 'Reader, I married him.....'
    > Last night, with a couple of friends and the minister who is letting us
    > borrow her church for a ceremony of our own devising in 9 days' time.
    > Champagne popping, standing in our front room with a couple of friends
    > as witnesses to 'get the legal part done early'. So beautiful. Everybody
    > crying... Except lizzy who dozed on the sofa in her posh new shoes.
    > We are all so incredibly happy. For everyone doing that long wait, hugs
    > to you across the miles. Your day will come. And everything will have
    > been worthwhile...
    > Garth's mum made us an incredible quilt for our bed (and quilts for the
    > girls). It is beautifully detailed in orange and gold autumn colours
    > with doves and hearts and green green leaves. It took her months to
    > make. Lying in bed last night I thought about the quilt and how
    > beautiful it is, and how it was lovingly made through the long, long
    > hours, and days, and months of our wait - and how if the wait had been
    > shorter perhaps the quilt would not have been so beautiful... It will
    > always remind me of our time apart, and how the difficulties worked to
    > make our relationship so strong. I wouldn't wish the waiting on anyone,
    > and yet...
    > O heck I'm crying again - and smiling. I didn't know it was possible to
    > be so happy.
    > Wishing every one of you joy in your journey.
    > love
    > -=-
    > Scarlett
    > --
    > ScarlettGarrett
    > Posted via http://britishexpats.com