1) Momma U. and Daddy A.
Caroline's Chestertown grandparents picked us up at BWI, and were very excited to see her, and to see how much she had grown. They were wonderful, dealing with her fits in the car (she had a dirty diaper, and they willingly pulled over so I could change her - something I'm not used to my parents doing), and her schedule. We played with her at night and my dad recited The Night Before Christmas to her by heart. The visit ended with her being "Santa's elf" during my parents' Christmas party the night before we flew back. She was a big hit.
2) Joyce, et al.
Joyce has worked for my parents, helping them out with everything from errands to babysitting since 1983. With their busy work schedules, she has been a lifesaver, to say the least. Joyce, as she loves to tell me, took me out of the car when my mom brought me home from the hospital for the first time. So as you can imagine, she was THRILLED to meet Caroline. Not to mention, she was a huge help if I wanted to get out of the house for the bit, to go to the gym, get a haircut, etc. She willingly babysat Caroline, which was great. I haven't seen her that happy in a long, long time.
3) Grandma and Grandpa Gehring, Uncle Alex, Auntie Chee, Great-Grandpa, Great Aunt Sue, Great Uncle Marty, Andrea, and David
Caroline and I went up to Blue Bell for Thanksgiving, where we spent lots of time with Greg's relatives. With the exception of Grandma Gehring, no one else had met her yet. She was a hit! Auntie Chee (the Gehring's black lab) was a little wary of her, but everyone else had a great time. And she loved everyone, of course. It was her first Thanksgiving, and while she couldn't have any turkey, she loved the football, and gossiping about Tiger Woods.
4) "Uncles" Ben, Kyle, Mark, TJ Mulhern, TJ Valerio, and John
These 6 guys are Greg's best friends growing up. They were all in our wedding, and have also become great friends of mine. Kyle, who went to UVA and was friends with me in college, even calls me every Monday evening on his way home from work to check in and see how I'm doing (he came up with this idea when he randomly called me the afternoon Greg left for Afghanistan). It really means a lot, and has been a constant in this crazy deployment. Anyway, all of these guys came over to Greg's house to meet Caroline. They loved her, and while she was afraid of John's hairy arms, she loved the high altitude that Mark and Kyle (both who are taller than 6' 3") offered. Ben O'Donnell came with his family to Greg's house for the whole weekend, as they always do, and he too fell in love. He was a bit awkward holding C at first, but by the end of the weekend she was taking naps on his tummy. He said he was going to start bringing her to football games as a handwarmer. These boys also took me out to dinner, for my first night out without Caroline. It was quite a treat. We have wonderful friends.
5) Jared Schmitt
Jared is one of Greg's friends from Navy, who lives about 30 minutes away from the Gehrings. He came over during Thanksgiving weekend to meet her, and to catch up. It was great to see him, since I hadn't seen him in almost a year. He flies helicopters in Norfolk, and it was need to hear about his job.
6) Great Grammy Collier
My Dad's mom has eagerly awaiting meeting Caroline. She had my dad when my Grandfather was deployed in WWII, and she has been with me throughout this journey, calling me at least twice a month (which is a ton for Grammy). C and I went down to Oxford, MD, where she lives to spend the afternoon with her, and she seemed about 10 years younger than when I last saw her (she's 87). It's so great to see how little babies can just bring people back to a different era. She loved telling stories about how much my Grandfather loved babies, and how he loved to take the late night feedings for my dad and my aunt. Our visit with her was really special.
7) Ryan Kelly and Mrs. Kelly
Ryan is another one of Greg's friends from Navy, who also became one of my close friends throughout the 4 years in college that we knew each other. He was on leave in Annapolis, where his parents live, and Caroline and I went over for lunch. It was so nice to see them! Mrs. Kelly loved Caroline, as did Ryan, and it was great hearing stories about the three Kelly boys growing up.
8) Uncle Jacob and Auntie Katherine; Great Aunt Kathy, Sam Tak
Caroline and I also went to Boston (!) while we were home. It was a crazy trip, and we went because my parents had already planned to go up there, and we wanted to spend time with them rather than be alone in Chestertown by ourselves. So up we went (another good plane ride) and we met up with Auntie Katherine (who hadn't seen C since she was 4 days old) and met Uncle Jake for the first time, who loved her. We also met Great Aunt Kathy (my mom's identical twin, who told me first thing that 1/4 of Caroline's DNA are hers) and Sam Takvorian, my first cousin. The trip was nice, and actually quite relaxing. It was good seeing more relatives.
9) Caroline Hoch (the first of the Carolines); Mr. and Mrs. Hoch
Caroline Hoch is one of my three Caroline best friends (all three were in our wedding). She heard I was coming up to Boston and drove home from New York to see her! It was so sweet of her. She has been so extremely supportive throughout my whole pregnancy/birth/Greg being gone, and it was so great to finally see her! Caroline Hoch has been one of the people who have told me, it's ok to be sad, it's ok to feel like this is a hard time, but most importantly, it's ok to call me up and tell me this stuff, because that's exactly what I'm here for. I love her! And so did baby Caroline, of course. Her parents were also great, as always. They are such fun, nice, caring people.
10) Elizabeth Clarke, my oldest friend
Elizabeth and I were best friends growing up. She is one of the funniest people I know, and every time we get together we never run out of funny memories to laugh about. I went over to her parents' house for dinner, where Caroline got to meet her family.
11) Chip and Axie Moses
Chip and Axie are friends of my parents, who live in Charlottesville. I went down to my old stomping grounds while I was back East, and stayed with them. It was great to see them, and was so nice of them to let Caroline and me stay at their beautiful home.
12) Cabell Belk
Cabell is one of closest friends from high school. She is currently finishing up her Masters in Spanish at UVA, and even though she was swamped both with giving/taking exams (she also teaches Spanish at UVA) she took the time to meet up with us for lunch. We had a blast, and of course, Caroline loved her.
13) Din Botsford, Catherine Brown
Din and Catherine are two friends of mine from UVA who still live in Charlottesville. Din is now an architect and Catherine is a teacher. We spent a day together in Cville, catching up, visiting my favorite places, and just enjoying each other's company. As usual, they were in good spirits, and a treat to be with.
14) Caelyn LeBlanc
Caelyn is Frank Furman's (who is stationed in 29 Palms, is currently deployed with Greg, was in our wedding and is one of our best friends) girlfriend. Since meeting Caelyn she has also become a great friend of mine, and as I always tell her, I wish we had gone to school together so we could've been in the same group of friends. Anyway I made sure to meet up with her when I was home (she is currently stationed in Quantico - she is also a Marine). I was actually lucky enough to meet up with her twice! It's so great to have a friend who is not only going through the same deployment I am but also who knows me apart from my 3/4 life in 29 Palms.
15) Kasie Hunt
Kasie is Carlo Scott's girlfriend. For those of you who don't know Carlo, he was Greg's roommate for four years at Navy, and is the reason why I met Greg (and, as Carlo will claim, why I therefore married him). Kasie lives and works in DC, so I was able to meet up with her for breakfast with Caelyn. It was great to spend some time together and just relax on a nice Saturday morning.
16) Katherine Alford
Katherine is a cousin of mine (the daughter of my mom's first cousin - I think that makes us first cousins once removed?) who lives in Charlottesville. I went over to her house for dinner and had a great time, as I always do. My family is pretty amazing, and I love that I am friends with all of the my relatives (and am pretty sure we'd be friends even if we weren't related). Katherine in particular is a lot of fun, and always someone that I look forward to seeing in C'ville.
17) Ila Broyles
Ila was my first-year roommate at UVA. She now lives in DC with her husband, and happens to live right next to wear I was eating breakfast with Caelyn and Kasie! So we met up for an impromptu coffee - the first time we'd really seen each other since graduating, since we were both at each other's weddings, but that's always a crazy time. She seems to be doing really well. I was really glad we were able to reconnect and catch up.
18) Sara Hester
Sara was another friend of mine from UVA. She texted me and asked me if I wanted to meet for coffee in Annapolis, which of course I did, so I got to see her and have some nice quality time with her. She is always so good at keeping in touch, so it was great to actually see her in person.
Phew! So those are all of the people we saw. As you can see, we were super busy. Caroline has never met so many people in her short little life! Needless to say, while it was so much fun being home, it is nice to be back in California and have some mellow time. :) To those of you who I was trying to meet up with but didn't get to see, I am so sorry! As you can probably imagine, life was pretty jammed packed and there were just so many things I could do in so little time, especially with a machine who eats every 3 hours !
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