By Thursday morning our house was all cleared out so we were obligation free. We had given the kids the choice about whether they wanted to spend their last day at school or in the city and they chose school. So after breakfast at the hotel (I opted for a full English breakfast one last time) Richard and I dropped them off at school and went into the city.
We picked up Simon first, which was what began the water-works because I felt particularly close to Simon's teacher. After Mrs. Uddin and I hugged, I looked around and realized we weren't the only ones crying! It seemed like everyone I said goodbye to was really, genuinely sad that we were leaving. It wasn't lip service and that realization sunk in deep.
Earlier that day I had written a note to the mother of a little girl in Simon's class. She didn't speak English but she and I had seen each other at school drop off, pick up and on the bus every day for two years. We had exchanged smiles and friendly glances, but had never really spoken. She had two other children and her kids and my kids were always friendly to each other on the bus. In my note I just mentioned how I had enjoyed being around them and what lovely kids she had, but that we were moving away and I would miss seeing them. I asked Richard to translate it into Spanish for me and I gave it to her as we picked up our kids together. She looked a little confused at first, but she found me later and had her son translate a message back to me, reciprocating similar feelings. It was incredibly touching and this feeling of love that can exist beyond cultural differences just kept blossoming inside me.
Fortunately I didn't have to say goodbye to Cindy and Mike at the school. They met up with us and we all walked to Greenwich Park to spend the afternoon before eating dinner at our last favorite place, Goddards. (How did I not take any pictures?!)
Also fortunately, we took the DLR home and Mike and Cindy had to get off before us, so it was a quick goodbye on the train. Mike and Cindy were like our family in London, and even though they had family of their own, they were always welcoming and kind and helpful to us. We miss them so much.
The kids crashed in the hotel beds, while the already completely exhausted parents packed up the last bits of our London life and got much too little sleep for the long travel day ahead.