Traveling to Poland for Babcia's funeral

We want our children to be able to say goodbye to their 'babcia' and to finally meet the family that they so desperately want to know. Many of you have grandparents that live nearby and ones that visit often, please give them a hug and cherish the time they spend with your children because grandmas and grandpas are precious and once they are gone, the only thing we can do is remember the good times.

 

 

My name is Wieslawa but most everyone calls me Leslie. My mom Jozefa Rzazewska passed away in Poland on Friday, June 10, 2022 after suffering a stroke. She would have been 86 years old in July.

 

 

Upon hearing the news, we were heartbroken and decided we needed to attend her funeral in Poland so we can say goodbye to Babcia (grandma) one last time. After checking airfare for a family of five - my husband, 3 young children ages 5, 7, and 9, and myself - we realized that flights are prohibitively expensive, averaging about $1,500 per person for the lowest fares not including everything else that goes with travel.

 

 

Several people have told me to leave the kids at home, to go alone, saying what's the point. I can't do that. The point is that this will be the last memory that they will have of their grandmother, forever.

 

 

I never got to meet my grandparents.

 

 

My mom emigrated from Poland in the 1970's and I was born in the US, being 17 years+ younger than my half siblings. After my father passed away when I was 18 my mom decided that she wanted to retire to the small family farm back in Poland.

 

 

We were able to visit Poland before we had children and she would return for extended visits quite frequently. My mom spent many years living with us and we always enjoyed taking her with us on vacations, day trips, or even out to dinner. She visited us when our children were born and LOVED her grandchildren. She would sit and rock them for hours, kiss and hug them as much as possible because she knew she would not be able to see them everyday.

 

 

As my mom's health declined and her memory started to fade, she was no longer able to travel and the last time our children saw their 'babcia' was in 2018. We had planned on visiting her the following year but with being a one income household, we decided to delay our trip and then Covid-19 lockdowns happend and travel restrictions were implemented to Europe. In 2021 we were relocated for my husband's work which caused a large financial commotion in our lives and we delayed traveling again.

 

 

We always thought we had more time to share with babcia, another phone call or visit to plan. Now its too late. All we can do is hope to be able to say goodbye in person, so very far away.