Better Late Than Never

7:00 a.m. Wednesday, May 18 – Amsterdam, Schiphol Airport  (I found this post I wrote 10 days ago which feels like ages now - its old news, but I'm posting it anyway.)

It feels like midnight, but it’s the crack of dawn on Wednesday morning in Amsterdam. On a very smooth flight from Minneapolis I read a little, ate a little, slept a little (too little) and watched one sad sad movie (Rabbit Hole).

Of course it was also fun to think back over the last 24 hours, I can’t think ahead too much just yet or I’ll break into anxious sweats, I guess I’ll save that for the next flight!

Monday was such a great day, fun and productive all at the same time. Dad worked on the garage door opener all day long, seriously, all day long. What a dad I have. Martha cleaned and cleaned and cleaned, what a sister I have. Charlie helped trim some bushes and kept us searching for acceptable answers to his myriad of “why” questions. Charlie and I made time for a nice bike ride to Holmes Lake, while Martha, Dad and Arne made a trip to the hardware store.

Tuesday morning brought about final preparations of the house and luggage. Mom called, I cried. Ed called, I cried. I said good bye to dad, he stayed back to finish the garage door, I cried. Martha, Charlie and Arne brought me to the airport. We gazed at planes for a while, answered more questions, and finally decided we best say good bye. I cried. Charlie told me to stop crying. I was unsuccessful.

One last call from Martha before boarding the plane, the report is that I have a working garage door. How great is that?

Mary and I decided to try to meet for an hour in the Minneapolis airport. She brought Punch Pizza, brownies with walnuts, and her sweet Ray and Anna. It was a bit of an ordeal for her to get to the airport, parking at the other terminal and taking two trains, but she did it. I cried. She also gave me Green Jasmine tea from the Tea Source and some tea bags, it shouldn’t be too hard to find hot water in Africa right?

Finally I boarded the plane bound for Amsterdam. There was some kind of senior citizen’s tour group on the plane and the Drake University football team (also headed for Kilimanjaro), as we boarded one of the senior citizen’s knocked on the outside of the plane just before he stepped in (a good luck gesture?) while one of the football players wolfed down some Chinese food. I kind of love watching the world travel.

No internet access for me here. So I’ll post this sometime, by then it will be late and there will be much more worthwhile things to say, but for now it just feels good to have been sent off well and to finally be on the way. I miss you already.