Saturday, June 16, 2012

“Treasure is uncovered by the force of flowing water, and it is buried by the same currents.”
The Alchemist

Thank you to everyone who came to my goodbye party of crawfish etouffee, pupusas, hugs, and other exchanges of love and support. It’s a combination of your generosity and my knack for leaving certain things until the last minute that had me up until 1am this morning. Mom was right, I should have written thank you notes while sunning at the pool earlier last week instead of spending good reflection time going from Goodwill to Goodwill looking for worn down luggage. I didn’t find any luggage by the way. I just ended up using and old suitcase from our attic that has probably been to El Salvador with me before, or at least Peru or Ecuador, a very old brown, hard case piece, and a giant green duffle bag mom found at Wal-Mart that I can hopefully use while traveling around with SHARE delegations in a few short days. It’s these three duffle bags (one of them overweight, but I don’t find this out until later) that made my 4am wake up call, trip to the airport, and check-in far from smooth. Turns out if you are flying international you can only have one checked bag, the second you pay $40 for, and a third is pretty much out of the question, especially if it is overweight by ten pounds. I almost considered paying $350 to get all three of my bags on that plane to Houston with me, but dad said they would try sending my linens, tools, pictures and books either with Ivan next week, or shipping them as soon as possible. My flight was leaving in 30minutes anyway, so I didn’t really have a choice. After seconds of hugs and quick kisses to my family, minus Michael (miss you!), I was crying and running to jump in line at security. I’m sure no one around me thought twice about my oversized, embroidered pillow, brand new Nikon case, backpack and fanny pack. But my blubbering, stuttering and short gasps probably gave away that I was not only in a hurry to catch my flight, but also really sad to say good bye to my parents and siblings so suddenly. It was hard. And as I sit here at the good ol’ George Bush Intercontinental Airport in Houston, I still don’t think it has fully hit me yet that I won’t be seeing them for a very long time. I won’t be seeing any of you for a very long time…Anyway, I got through security within 15ish minutes (15minutes until plane leaves at this point), compose myself and take off for the gate furthest away in terminal A. I didn’t make it. I was one of three women to miss the flight (I know this because the other two came running up behind me also crying and huffing) towards gate A23. The nice women at the desk told me to take a deep breath and explain to them where I was ultimately headed. My flight to San Salvador didn’t leave from Houston until 6pm, so I had plenty of time to catch another one before then they assured me. I caught the 9:10am, and have been sitting in the airport ever since, passing time reading Juliet (thank you, Janie!), playing with my new camera (thanks, mom and dad!), and eating peanut butter and crackers. I’ve also been eyeing the burger joint about 10ft from my gate. Red meat is going to be a pretty rare (pun intended) meal for me while south of the border. Life is still good. El Salvador is still happening. And I have nothing to complain about. I am abundantly blessed and very thankful for this opportunity. I just have my fingers crossed that Karen is safely waiting at our new (orange!) apartment when I arrive around 9pm. I’m not getting my hopes up about a bed or any sort of sleeping arrangements since my hammock and sheets are now back in Indy. Cheers to adventures and flexibility! Oh…and learning from my mistakes of poor weighing, poor planning, and poor timing.