leakage

So it seems that word is getting out to family that I hadn't intended to inform of our plans quite yet. First my ex-in-laws found out when their son (the kids' father) emailed them, excited about our trip. Oops. So I brought it up and explained it to everyone at the dinner table a few Sundays ago. Audrey had spilled the beans to her uncle, not knowing I wasn't telling anyone. Then on Friday I got a card from my grandparents..."So, what's this about VietNam?" Oh boy.

While I have it all sorted out in my head about the why's and how's, it's still hard to explain and I find myself frustrated by the fact that nearly everyone has assumed that I was planning this simply as a tactic to get K. back into my daily life. What they fail to understand is that he will be 6-8 hours away from us, working full-time. Our contact will be limited by distance and both of our schedules, which seems like a pretty lousy way to do it if I were truly attempting to worm my way into his life. Please. Yes, I hope to see him a few times while we are there. Yes, I love him dearly. Yes, I have crazy fantasies of toodling around the countryside on a couple of scooters with kids riding behind. But I'm pretty realistic, I think, and I know that I need to live my own life and do what is best for me and my kids, as a family. That is what I'm doing.

So I guess I need to write up a letter, explaining my perspective (and including info to bust through all the myths about SE Asia that people tend to hang on to) and send it out to all those relative who will eventually need to know, anyway. Why has it been easier to tell friends than my own sisters?