good news and bad news

i'm writing this while michael is at lax waiting for the plane that will take him up up and away to amsterdam in the next hour or so. it was running three hours late last i heard. the good news is that owen and i decided to park and check in with michael so instead of hanging out alone for six hours at the lovely los angeles airport we all went up the street and hung out at the marriott lobby and had starbucks for dinner. which if you're owen is pretty fabulous. this means a maple oat scone, big people yogurt, melons out of the fruit cup and milk out of a really long green straw. and lobbys are great for having many many overstuffed chairs to dive into and long long hallways that circle around and around around and plenty of people to say "hi!" to.

this is after an entire day of getting in and out of the car. (morning at the pumpkin patch in irvine, lunch across town at the in and out, afternoon visiting ducks at the regional park, then the 405 to lax, terminal two then back in the parking garage, early evening at the marriot then back to lax and then back on the 405 just in time to get home for a bath and crash to bed.) which just confirms what we already know about owen. he's a born traveller. he just gets into the spirit of the hurry and wait with strangers that you do when you travel. hotel lobbies, flight gates, starbucks couches are just big playgrounds of mauve and chartreuse velour.

but more than that is his absolute love of transportation. one word: car. car! carcarcarcarcaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaarrrrrrrrrrr. today he even spotted the little green jetta in the parking lot before either of us and shouted: mamas car!. impressive. but the world of cars has expanded. he now shouts bus! bus! and shrieked with glee when one almost ran us off the road at the lax terminal. so wonderfully close! and trains. choochooo. and airplanes have so many neat buttons and seats that go up and down and those table trays.

so the bad news is that michael is, well, you know at the airport. and he's leaving the states. leaving home. and it makes us all really really sad. but the good news is that when he comes home we're all leaving the states and setting up home over in amersfoort. together. for a while. until it's time for michael to come home again. or until we come back here, from there. because home seems more and more like a state of mind. like we have this house, here. but when we're together here, or when we're somewhere out there, both are home. and that's good news too, i think.

and the other good news is that although ten hours is a ridiculously long time to have a toddler in an airplane owen will make it an incredible adventure. he will probably even get to ride trains and busses when we get there.