After two days of flights, and very little sleep, the moment I saw downtown Atlanta from the airplane window, I began to cry. It all felt so surreal to see buildings I knew. I was home. The second unexpected detour had truly begun.
The first night back was strange. It all felt like a dream. My mind could not put my two worlds together. When I was my parents, it felt like no time had passed. It felt like I had just seen them. Had the past 6 months really happened? When I crawled into my bed, all I could think was “This has to be a dream. I can’t really be here, in my own sheets, with my own blankets and pillows.”
The next week was full of doctor’s appointments and the beginning of physical therapy to get motion back in my arm. I found out that my surgery had been done well in Cambodia, praise the Lord!
Over the three weeks I spent at home, I learned to accept this unexpected detour. I had cried when I had made the decision. It was a decision I didn’t want to make. I wanted to stay where, in my mind, God had placed me and to even sacrifice my own well being to continue on. It was never in my plan to go home. But it was in God’s. He knew I needed my arm to be functional. He knew how much it would ease my parents minds to see me and to hug me.
While this detour was not in my plan, it was what I needed. Being home helped me to put my Race and this year in perspective. I am changing and growing. I’ve learned more about myself, about God, about the wonderful and difficult world we live in. I have been a part of a different kind of community, the kind where we challenge each other in love and celebrate victories with as much joy as though going through it.
Soon my unexpected detour ended. After two weeks of physical therapy, I was ready to go back. I bought my flight with the help of my supports, and I got ready to go back on the Race. After being away from my squad for a month, I was heading to Ecuador to begin the end. And when I finally come back for good, I will know I will not be the person who left in January, or even who left again in July.
