Farewell - Take 2

Goodbye Milwaukee!

We had a Farewell (again!) for Brett on Sunday evening and we had such a fantastic turn-out.  We had to also get our ceremonial quarter-barrel of Sprecher Root Beer! It still felt pretty surreal to be doing this again and that he would actually be leaving!

Instead of putting all the pictures in here individually for "Brett's Farewell - Part 2", I created a movie!

After the farewell, Monday was just running errands and watching Brett sort and pack, and pack and sort!  That evening we met with the Stake President (and his wife - who is a good friend of mine) where Brett was set apart as a full-time missionary and given a blessing.  He put his nametag on - which was a first for President Bruner (missionaries usually don't get their nametags until they arrive at the Missionary Training Center.  Brett already had his from before!)

It was a somber day... we were all quiet.  Don't get me wrong - we were excited for Brett.. but we are going to miss him.  A missionary mom posted a question on Facebook: "When do the tears stop flowing?!" and other missionary moms posted answers - including messages such as (I'm paraphrasing): Forget yourself.. and be grateful they are healthy and happy to serve! They could have chosen so many different paths - and that they are choosing to serve is nothing short of wonderful!

That is all true.  But... for this time... we miss his voice, humor and spirit in our home. We will miss HIM.... plain and simple.  (See my "Missionary FAQ's post coming up" to explain more.)

The next morning I called Scott in late to school.. and Eric, Carrie, Scott & I got Brett off to the airport where we waited to say our final good-byes. Tears, hugs and apprehension... and then we went off to eat "sad pancakes" at Red Rooster Cafe.  We did make jokes like, "Brett used to love to drink water." "Brett loved pancakes."  We took Scott to school afterwards and we all went home and took a major nap!  I couldn't sleep too much... I kept checking on his flight on the FlightAware app.

About 1:30pm, I saw that he's arrived safely in Dallas!  We weren't sure who would be there to greet him. He was worried that they would forget since he wasn't in a normal group coming from a Missionary Training Center.  We would soon hear more.. but it was an agonizing couple of days until we heard where he was assigned, and more!