As we approached late August, things looked well in hand. We had our plane tickets, and we’d figured out how to ship a couple of items ahead of time, where FedEx would hold them for our arrival. The apartment complex that Rin & two of their roommates from last year, Zoe & Ezra, signed up for was giving us regular updates about the planned move-in. The apartments are a new construction, and they promised a Friday 9/1 move-in date. Based on our schedules, we planned to fly out on 9/1, move in Saturday and Sunday, and then Elizabeth and I would fly back on Monday 9/4.

 

Plane tickets purchased and boxes in transit, we get an email from the apartments the Saturday before our Friday departure that says, actually, the apartments won’t be ready until Saturday 9/9. Pivot #1. Boxes were already in transit, and would only be held for a certain amount of time. Elizabeth has to teach in person, so we make the call - we’ll still fly out on the 1st, Elizabeth will fly back on the 4th, and Rin and I will hole up in Savannah until the apartment is ready. I change my flight back, Elizabeth finds a different Airbnb for Rin and I to stay in, and we settle into our last few days at home.

 

Thursday 8/31 evening: - We agree on how early we need to get up and settle in for the night. I check my email at around 10:30pm, and there’s an email from American Airlines telling us that our first flight is delayed and we’ll miss our connecting flight, but it's been rebooked you. However they've rebooked us on three completely different flights. Pivot #2. I get on the phone with American, talk over our options, and get all three of us rebooked for Saturday 9/2. Okay, so that’ll be a real quick turnaround for Elizabeth, but whatever.

 

Our flight on 9/2 is at an absurdly early hour. We leave at 3:30 am and drive to SFO, where everything conspires against us. Checking bags takes forever (we’d already paid for bags for our original flight and no one seems to know how to deal with that). Security takes forever. We’re in the literal farthest gate at the end of the terminal. We got to the gate 10 minutes before the scheduled departure time, but boarding had ended. We had missed our flight.

 

Pivot #3. We get placed on standby for another flight leaving soon, and get into line for boarding; then we hear an announcement: “Rin Boegel, please return to the security checkpoint.” Turns out, Rin had left their laptop at security (where for some reason it needed to go through twice). Our flight was boarding, but Elizabeth and Rin booked it all the way back to security, then all the way back again and made it on time. Amazingly, we made our connecting flight, and arrived in Savannah.

 

{Elizabeth here. A quick edit to say that the actual landing in Savannah was quite fraught for me - I was incredibly anxious, I think because of what was happening the previous time I landed in Savannah. But as soon as we got to the rental car, Rin put on the music that we listened to over and over in the hospital, and that made me smile and feel better. And over the next day or so, I made my peace with Savannah.}

 

The next day was relatively calm. A little light shopping for some apartment essentials. Elizabeth and I get a take a walk, we have dinner out at a jazz club Rin had always wanted to go to, and watch an episode of the very excellent One Piece on Netflix (the recent live action, not the older anime).

 

{Sorry, I have to break in again. What Tom neglects to mention here is that on the way home from dinner, walking across a street, a car turned left and came within a few feet of hitting all three of us. Yeah, that didn't feel great.}

 

I take Elizabeth to the airport early the next day, then Rin and I check into the new place, and lug everything up to the 2nd story flat.The next few days we’re busy with our own things - me working remotely, Rin working on pre-quarter assignments. I’m enjoying early walks around Savannah. We get the boxes from FedEx (a little light drama there until the guy decided to look behind a thing for one of our boxes). Rin proves to be excellent at picking out places to eat. Before we know it, it’s Friday, we’re excited about a Saturday move in. (You can maybe guess where this is heading…) Late Friday night, another email from the apartment. Move-in delayed to Saturday 9/16. Pivot #4. 

 

We call the Airbnb people to ask if we can stay another week. No, the place is already booked up, but they’ve got another unit basically next door. Okay. Rebook my flight back - I’m able to get the same flights, a week later. Rin contacts Zoe and Ezra, we get together midday Saturday for coffee and commiseration. The coffee place is near the bookstore, so Rin and I pop in to pick up the books they ordered a week ago. And then, on our way back to the car, Rin stumbles on a janky bit of pavement and falls to the ground.

 

The next day Rin’s foot is still hurting. We go to a care center recommended by the college, and they determine that Rin’s broken their foot. Pivot #5. Fifth metatarsal - something ballet dancers break. Rin gets fitted with a very small boot - more like a brace - and we head back to the Airbnb. I make dinner that night, and we talk logistics for the next day - the first day of classes.

 

The next four days Rin successfully navigates classes. I’m there to drop them off and pick them up, in between meetings. We mostly eat in - the Airbnb has a good enough kitchen. Friday comes - no classes for Rin, and I’m nervously checking my email, and sigh with relief when we get confirmation that move-in will actually happen on Saturday. 

 

The apartment move-in was chaotic, but by about 7pm we had enough moved in that it was time for celebratory ramen. A little more drama at the ramen shop, when Rin accidentally throws their brand-new apartment keys in the trash, but a quick rummage around and all’s well.

 

And that brings us to Sunday. Rin and I do another Target run for some things that became apparent after move-in, we get their room set up a little more, do some final grocery shopping, and then say our goodbyes and I fly home without anything else eventful happening."

 

Elizabeth again. So, not the smooth transition that we had hoped for; I wanted more than anything for Rin to move back to Savannah as seamlessly and as positively as possible. Life (and Georgia) keeps throwing us curveballs. But the bottom line is this: Rin is REALLY happy to be back at school and on their own, living their adult life. And Tom and I are so glad that they are back, that they even WANTED to go back, that Rin is moving on with life, despite all that happened earlier this year, and a new broken bone on top of it. Tom's family dubbed Rin "Resilient Rin," and I think that's an apt thing to end this post, and this page, on. We will always be thankful for all of your prayers, good wishes, notes, and love. Here's to a bright future for Rin, without any more broken bones.