August 13 – “An unexpected surprise”

We are back in Galveston.  It’s great to be home, but it is always a humbling experience to be included in someone’s special family events.  Thanks so much again to the Dammeyer family for trusting us with being part of Ashley and Josh’s wedding, and for hosting us to experience part of New Jersey.  Maybe next time we can get in that trip into “The City.” 

At the Newark airport we got all checked in for our flight home, grabbed a bacon, lettuce, and tomato sandwich, and settled in for the brief wait for our boarding call.  It gave us a chance to talk a bit about our time with friends and our New Jersey excursions.  We slowly began to think ahead to the flight home.  We were already in a reminiscing mood, so that brought back memories of the flight to New Jersey.  We recalled the in-flight Wifi that enabled us to watch the progress of the airplane on the Southwest Airlines website and wondered if we would have that same amenity going home.  We chuckled when we remembered little Elizabeth, the baby on the flight who so desperately wanted out of her carseat that she wailed on and off all the way from Houston.  Chris made the comment that at least the flight home would be Elizabeth-less. 

Our reverie was broken when we heard the call to line up to board the plane for our flight home.  We didn’t have quite as good a position as we did on the way over, but we were still in group A.  We found our marker, adjusted our carry-on backpack, and turned our eyes toward the boarding screen.  And that’s when we noticed it.  At first it was just a glimpse out of the corner of our eye, one of those fleeting glances where you aren’t really sure you saw what you saw.  I looked again.  And then again.  I couldn’t believe what my eyes were telling me.  I was afraid to say anything out loud, but it couldn’t be.  Surely not.  Chris’s voice invaded my stupor when she exclaimed, “Oh, look.  It’s …” (Are you ready for this?  I sure wasn’t).  “Oh, look.  It’s Elizabeth.”  Yep.  There she was.  In the flesh.  The same Elizabeth who “entertained” us on the flight to New Jersey was lining up to board for our flight home.  What are the odds?  To her credit, though, she did very well this time.  She was allowed to sit in her Daddy’s lap, and apparently they had done enough to wear her out, because she slept the entire almost-four hours.  Another little one had a few outbursts, but they were all quite brief, and hastily extinguished by whatever means the Mom was using. 

Kel only had to make one circle around the pick-up area before we claimed our luggage and met up with him.  The trip home was an easy one, and, to fast-forward to the bottom line, it was sure good to sleep in our own bed last night. 

Psalms 104:33 says, “I will sing to the Lord all my life; I will sing praise to my God as long as I live.”

Father, thank you for Dammeyers, for the miracle of airplane flight, for crying babies, and, of course, for home.  Amen.