I'm still not used to her leaving

Two weeks ago I received a text from Catherine, and I could tell that she was kind of "down".  She was going to come home the next evening because she was going to watch our sweet pup while we were gone for our friend's funeral, and I encouraged her to go ahead and come home that evening.  She did, and we were thrilled to have her.  While we were gone, she had an episode similar to the ones she had over the summer.  We were very surprised by this, and when we got home we had a conversation about things.  She was going to be coming home the following weekend (this past weekend) anyway, and then had a dental appointment yesterday.  We discussed that we had concerns about her driving if these were going to start happening again.  We explained that if she waited and left today, that would be another nine days for us to observes, and eleven days since her episode.  She agreed it was probably best that way.  I hated that she might have to be dealing with this again, but I certainly did not hate that my sweet girl was going to be home with us for such a long stretch.

It still went too quickly though.  We loved our family dinners together and watching some TV and some laughing together.  We had some wii bowling matches, and when Thomas was home Monday because of no school, I love that they made plans to hang out and get some coffee and doughnuts together.  Each day I was so grateful that the next day wasn't the day she was leaving.  But of course, yesterday arrived, and the next day was the day she was leaving.  I gave her a big hug before I went to bed last night, and spent a little time chatting with her.  This morning while she was still sleeping I went in to kiss her and prayed over her.

She let us know about Noon that she was heading back.  It still breaks my heart a little, although not nearly as much as the first couple of times.  Coming home today without her here, the driveway seemed empty without her car, and the house seemed empty without her laugh.  It isn't just me though.  She is truly Thomas's best friend, and it's hard that she isn't here to keep him company.  At the same time, I know that raising children who are independent is exactly how it is supposed to be.  I'm just not used to her leaving yet.