Crazy Departure

Wow, was that a rough two days, first on Sarah and then on Orion.

Sarah's original train reservation was for Wednesday, but Amtrak totally screwed us up. When I called and said I had a voucher, they said they would reserve it and I just needed to bring the voucher in. They didn't say anything about when. When we got there on Wednesday, they said I was supposed to have brought the voucher in within 24 hours and they had canceled the reservation! And the train was sold out! Arrrggghhh! Sarah was SO upset. And the jerk who was supposed to pick her up couldn't do it the following day and got all mad about it. After a few phone calls, she found another ride, and we got her all booked up and paid for. The one nice part is that Don had come to see her off, so we all decided to go have lunch together.

Orion was already bummed about Sarah leaving, but he had been fine at the train station. Not so on Thursday.... I guess the sadness times 2 was way too much to handle. :( He started having some major big feelings as soon as we got in the station. He was doing alot of screaming and trying to run away. At one point, a man with a white beard came over and started telling him he was friends with Santa, so Orion should behave because he was going to report to him! What the hell? People like that shock me so much I don't even know how to reply! I just decided to wait until he left and then said to Orion that he was nutty and didn't really know Santa, because Santa loves everbody and gives presents to all. Later when I told Don, he wanted to go beat him LOL. That would have set a great example!

The screaming hit the peak when Sarah had to get in line to get on the train. I was holding his hand so he couldn't run away, and some lady came over to tell me she was a nanny and asked me if I wanted her help. I just looked at her and said, "No," with a smile. I'm sure she thought I was very rude! So I ended up taking him outside for awhile. I was bummed as we hadn't really said goodbye, but he was so out of control. :( He was sitting on a bench and just screaming and telling me to leave him alone. A couple of times I asked him if he wanted to go in and see Sarah one more time before he left or if he wanted to just go home. Finally he started yelling he didn't want her to leave. Ah, that felt good to hear him expressing what was really inside. Another sweet and well meaning mom came over and offered him a fruit leather. He looked at her like she was crazy, and I said it was OK, he was just expressing his sadness. Don showed up right about then, and funny enough, Orion was happy to take some pastries from him. :) They weren't offered as a bribe though. Orion just knew what was in the bag! That did end up breaking the tension, and he was able to go in and say goodbye quickly.

The amazing thing was, he just skipped all the way to the car afterward as happy as could be. This was such a lesson for me in just letting him get that stuff out of his system. He was so much happier having processed it with me just being present with it and acknowledging that he was really sad. Wow, is it ever hard sometimes though!