Dread. That’s how I felt about our upcoming travel day the morning of September 30th at 3:30am. I wasn’t ready to leave Nicaragua or Latin America in general. We were about to embark on a 55 HOUR, almost sleepless and incredibly exhausting trip to our team’s location. We would have four plane rides, lots of airport layovers, a very uncomfortable car trip totaling about 4.5 hours, and a 2 hour boat ferry in the dark that we were all totally unprepared for. My clothes and things had been soaked through the night before by the rain and so I was left struggling to strategically re-pack my bag hours before departure. And while everyone else was excited to be passing through good old America during our 8 hour layover in Los Angeles on the way to the Philippines, I knew seeing some lucky squad-mates who had family and loved ones flying or driving in to spend the day with them while I was still apart from my loved ones was going to make me pretty stinkin’ sad.
The day didn’t get any better when we got to the Managua airport and I was told my bag weighed WAAYYY more than I’d thought. Embarrassingly more than I’d thought. It was either pay the $75 fee for overweight baggage or try to disperse 14 pounds worth of equipment, clothes, and toiletries to various squad-mates who had a pound or two to spare here and there. After almost crying in frustration, I gave up and paid the fee and spent the rest of our time in the Managua airport sulking to myself.
Two plane rides later, we were on our way from Atlanta to LA, and as I listened to some All Sons and Daughters to try to put my mind at peace, I just kept thinking about one very special man in particular that I would love to see in LA 🙂 My boyfriend Matt has been such an encouragement and prayer warrior for me on this Race. He has been with me every step of the way, and though it has been hard for us to be apart, we both know that this is fully part of the Lord’s plan for us.
In my head on the plane I was hoping it was also really part of the Lord’s plan for him to show up at the airport and surprise me…
I daydreamed the whole way there, like a princess dreaming about her prince charming. I imagined how I would react if I heard him say my name from behind my back. I replayed various versions in my head of him waiting at the gate for me, or me spotting him across the baggage claim, or waiting behind the security doors as I walked out. I wondered if I would scream or cry or laugh if I could see him.
As it turns out, I did all of the above.
The Dream Come True: So we showed up at the airport in LA, and my dear teammate Leslie and I were walking out with our other sister Brittney because we all knew her boyfriend was coming to see her and we were ready with cameras to document the moment and smiles and giggles shared in excitement for her. Their reunion was beautiful and I was truly so happy for them. We continued on to baggage claim, got excited about the boxes we’d been sent from loved ones at home that our squad mate’s parents had collected for us (THANKS SHOUSE’s!) and started pulling off packs from the conveyer belt.
I looked over at Brittney and she had this crazy happy grin on her face, and in my mind I remember time just stopping for a second as I believed her grin to be a result of her happiness at being with Jake, and I shared in a moment’s reflection of what that would feel like if my Matt were there. It was a long bittersweet moment.
One long bittersweet moment followed by perhaps the most 100% happiest moment of my life! As I turned away, I turned right into the arms of my Matt, who had sneaked up behind me with the most beautiful smile I have ever seen on his face. That’s when the scream came. And the tears. And the laughter. All that dreaming on the plane about my prince charming had come true in a manner a thousand times better than I could have imagined.
After a whispered prayer of thanks to the Lord, I just held Matt’s face in my hands as he hugged me and three months of missing each other just melted away within those first few moments shared together once again.
Every minute of those 7 hours together was precious to us. There was nothing taken for granted-not the fast food we ate together, not the time we spent waiting in line to re-check by bag, not even having to wait half an hour for a taxi ride to In-and-Out Burger. It was wonderful, because we got to do it together. And the hand-holding, watching the video-message movie Matt made me from friends and family at home, and the prayer time we shared made the day all the more perfect. Our sweet goodbye was hard, but full of gratefulness for the blessing the Lord bestowed upon us that day.
My dear Matt, this blog is for you. I cannot thank you enough for the sweet surprise you gave me that day. You are such a blessing in my life and I have so much joy knowing that you not only have been with me mentally and prayerfully every step of the way during this Race, but now you have physically been with me on it. I can’t imagine this Race without you.
