It all started Thursday morning at precisely 8:13 as I scrambled out of my bed in a wild frenzy trying to silence my blaring alarm clock. It was the day that my first semester of college would end and I would fly back to Japan for Christmas. I only had one last exam at one o'clock: Old Testament Survey. The rest of the morning was not actually that interesting. It mostly involved me eating breakfast, procrastinating, watching NBA highlights, and cramming O.T. dates, names, and places in the few precious hours I had. The exam itself was not actually very difficult. To be honest, it was surprisingly an anti-climactic way to end the semester. Nevertheless, I walked out in confidence and jubilee knowing that I could count on having 16 official college credits on my transcript. I walked home, watched more NBA, chatted with my housemates, and finished packing for my long trip that lay ahead of me. Little did I know how long.
I went out to dinner with my whole house and lined up for the midnight showing of the Hobbit. At 6:30, we were the first people in line. After playing bananagrams, doing pushups, reading out loud to each other, and gloating over the hundred people in line behind us, we finally entered the theater and got the best seats in the house. The Hobbit was FANTASTIC by the way. Please stop what you are doing right now and go see it. Well, finish reading this first. Then go see it. It was awesome.
At 2:58 AM, the movie ended. It's friday now and after being awake for close to 19 hours, I was starting to feel a little tired. My flight to Seattle was at 5 AM so we went home, snatched up our bags, and were out the door in a flash. Surprisingly, the airport was fairly busy at 4 in the morning. My friend who was flying standby didn't get on the flight with me. With mixed emotions, I waved goodbye as I stepped on the plane without him. If only I could have seen this moment as a foreshadowing of what was to come.
I arrived at Seattle and quickly checked-in on standby for my 12:50 PM flight to Narita. By the time I check my luggage and go through security, I still have over 6 hours to wait before my flight. Now if anyone has every waited in an airport for 6 hours, they know that 6 hours is a very, very, very long time. It's even longer when half the time you are wondering if you won't even get on the flight you are waiting for. It's even longer still when every seat has arm rests between them so you can't lay down. All this to say that 6 hours is indeed a very long time.
Interesting side notes. While waiting during this time, I met someone who was my classmate/friend's brother's friend. *It's a small world after all~* I also got to watch the story of the shootings in Connecticut develop on CNN. Let's remember to be praying for the families and the community there and pray that God will use this to bring glory to His great name and to bring people to recognize His great love.
And now climax of the story. It was 12:53 PM and all the passengers had boarded the plane. Looking around, I could tell who was on standby like I was because they were either nervously glancing at the gate every 5 seconds, tearing their hair out in angst, or on the verge of a mental breakdown. I know because I was doing all three. In retrospect, I suppose that it was mostly from being awake for 28 hours. You can imagine my response when I heard my name being called as I leaped from my seat and dashed to the gate in a furry. The told me I had a seat on the flight! YES!!! That six hour wait had been worth it! Oh Joy! I could at last relax and enjoy knowing where my destiny for the day was: On that flight to see my family again. They were about to lead me onto the airplane when suddenly the phone rang at the counter. The attendant answered it and after a brief conversation she hung up and turned to me. "I'm sorry," she said calmly and professionally, "but although there is a seat for you, the weight limit on the plane has been reached so we cannot let you board." With that she turned, closed the gate door and left me standing there in shock.
Ok, I'm an aviation student so I really do understand why they have those stupid weight limits but seriously? How much is 165 pounds (me) going to do to a Boeing 747? This was even more devastating when I later realized that my 86 pounds of checked luggage had made it on the flight but I didn't. I was devastated again when I talked to an airline employee that said that every flight on the west coast flying over the pacific was %100 booked. Considering that there are plenty of people higher up on standby then I was, the chance of me getting on a flight this weekend is practically nil.
All this to say that it took me a while to figure out what I was going to do, but I finally figured that staying in Seattle was not a good idea considering that I had no place to stay and the flights weren't looking positive. I waited another 4 hours in the airport and caught a 3 hour bus to bring me to my grandparents house. So here I am, 38 hours later, in the mountains with my grandparents trying not to think about the fact that I could be arriving in Japan right about now. This has certainly been one really long day.
I tried to keep this story light hearted and comical, but to be honest, I was tempted so much to be negative all day. Whether it was arm rests so I couldn't lay down, weight limits that would take my luggage on a plane but not me, or that lady next to me on the bus with the kindle on full brightness so I couldn't sleep, I found myself trying not to complain or not to question God's good will. Yes, I know He is in control, but I don't know why He does things the way He does. I'm not going to lie to you. I am really disappointed and very frustrated that I am going to miss spending an entire weekend with my family. But you know what? It's God's plan. So I need to trust that everything he does is to draw me closer to Him and for me to rely on Him more and more. He is Good and He has never failed me before. So even though I feel like my circumstances really suck, Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ!
Besides, I get to spend some extra time with my grandparents...in the mountains...in the snow! How cool is that? Well I guess it's not so bad after all. Thanks God.
