Twenty-four hours’ door-to-door travel disappear the instant the family sits down together for mushroom soup, heavy Polish bread, and the satisfaction of being together again. And then to top it all off, drinks and homemade kielbasa with the father-in-law as we chat and watch Brazil and the Ivory Coast play.

The real joy are the cousins. The girls have met each other once, two years ago. Within a few moments, they were inseparable.

But in a sense, it’s impossible to believe that I’m able to sit, have a drink, watch football (really: why would anyone call it anything else; and that pathetic excuse for a sport that we Americans call football — punting and kicking off are the only times the foot comes in contact with the ball).

There was quite a lot of travel exhaustion to overcome in order to get to that moment. It began in Charlotte, where the stress level immediately rose as Nana and Papa saw us off. “Why aren’t they coming with us?” L asked.

“Security clearance” and “rules” just didn’t make sense to the Girl. “Why can’t they come?” Such an auspisious start.

L started the long walk to the gate with heaviness. A fussy girl is not a pleasant traveling companion.

Things calmed down in the plane. A little coloring; a little princess play — soon all else was moot.

The trip, though, was endless: a car ride, the first flight, a ridiculously long layover, a short flight, and a 100 kilometer car ride.

Bottom lines: we’re all thrilled to be back in Poland; we’re all tried; none of us can wait to see what tomorrow brings.