Los Angeles
This picture was taken while I was lying across the seats in an airport terminal trying to sleep. I felt like Tom Hanks at one point because it was very quiet and I was alone besides a sprinkling of other travelers caught in destination limbo like myself.
I’ve had a lot of anxiety about this trip. It was unexpected. The timing is good though since I’m currently not working. So I’m going with it. Too late now as I’m one hour away from boarding a plane to Tokyo and I’ve been driving, flying, waiting, sitting, sleeping, eating, pooping…well not pooping (yes I said poop) for over 24 hours already. My journey began Friday at 7:30am when I picked up my cute little rental and drove from my home in Indiana to Louisville.
I had some major anxiety before I left yesterday…leaving home for six weeks is stressful for multiple reasons. Mainly, it was difficult to say goodbye to my sweet, cute little cats! But I did and here I am. They are in good hands.
I arrived in Chicago safely and sat there for a few hours before leaving for Los Angeles. I love O’hare airport it feels like a little city. I ordered a couple of egg rolls and spent a gazillion dollars and all was well. Until we boarded. The flight was at full capacity and when I was checking through they took my carry on bag at the last possible moment and checked it through to Japan. “You’ll have to pick it up at your final destination baggage claim, ma’am, we don’t have any room left in the overhead for your bag.” Well, I growled at that and found my seat. Then I thought, “baggage claim?” My Bible, important papers, MacBook, coffee, my blood, sweat, and tears…my manuscript, other books…my LIFE is in that carry on bag. So between drifting off to sleep and fretting about the status of my bag…I had a weird 4 hour trip to the west coast. I didn’t want to be without all of my important things for the next 24 hours.
In between the sleeping and fretting I prayed. “I know you got this God, I’m giving it to you.” And he did take care of it. Thanks to the extremely SWEET United gate attendant with the British accent who made a special trip to retrieve my bag for me. He told me it would “cost me dinner” but ended up helping me at no charge. I like people who make me smile at 1am when I don’t feel like I have much to smile about!
So almost 10 hours later I’m still at LAX and finally preparing to board for my 13 hour flight to Narita. I had a couple of text conversations with friends back home that helped time pass…one of which involved a poop story and made us both giggle. I slept amongst other travelers in the terminal for a couple of hours quite peacefully besides the LOUD announcement over the intercom every 30 minutes asking me to “maintain close control of my belongings at all times…” I was sleeping ON my wallet and passport…I had it covered, literally. And finally. I just had the best conversation with another sleepy delirious traveler much like myself named Margret who was traveling home to Hawaii with her constipated little doggie. We laughed and snorted about poop stories and it kinda made my day! It’s good to make a new friend on a similar journey. Sometimes the shortest encounters can mean the most. See you in Oahu sweet lady 😉
God has got this you guys! You might not be in the middle of an epic crazy flight schedule trip to Tokyo but you’re likely dealing with something causing you stress. My advice? Give it over to God and enjoy your life. As my new friend told me…”life is too short not to enjoy it.” She like me knows how precious life becomes after losing a loved one. You don’t have to continue to live by others expectations. We are each on our own separate journeys. Sometimes we get caught in a long layover but the pilot has the flight ahead of us mapped out. Trust Him and go with it. Follow the next BEST step and keep your options open. You never know where you might arrive next. There is comfort in the not knowing when you let go and embrace Gods’s plan.
Blessings,
Stacey ~ iamalive
Chicago