Flying to Nepal...

September 10, 2009: DFW
My first layover (out of five!) was in Dallas. I don’t mind layovers; they give me a chance to watch people and think about where they’re going and such! You have your casual walkers, you have your sprinters (chances are their plane left five minutes ago, but no one has the heart to tell them that, so people just clear the way!), you have your families wrangling their kiddos, and you see so many more! Everyone’s going somewhere, or they’re sitting down waiting. But for seven minutes in DFW, everyone stood still.
The shop keepers came out of their stands, airport personnel were everywhere, and slightly confused bywalkers quickly became bystanders. And there was clapping. Lots of clapping and cheering. I thought, man, there must be some crazy group leaving on some cool trip to somewhere! But it was even better than that. Up in the glassed in skywalk, there were hundreds of military men and women returning from duty overseas. And they just kept coming. And for seven minutes, everyone set aside political differences, racial differences, gender differences, and any number of other absurd differences we come up with to divide ourselves, and we welcomed home men and women who fight for this country. Some of them were crying, some were tired, some were just excited. And it made me think that no matter what the state of our country, there are always people out there sacrificing for my well being! And that, in itself, is a blessing :)!

September 10, 2009: IAH
So, on my way out of Dallas, I looked out the window and saw my guitar packed on top of the luggage on the little cart thingy. And I thought, “United Breaks Guitars, but I’m on American!” And then I thought, “where’s my duffle bag?!” And I looked, but I didn’t see it. And I started talking to the guy next to me and assumed it came on another cart thingy.
Then, when I was gathering my luggage in Houston, my guitar came out, but not my duffle bag! And I thought, “Oh boy.” But it wasn’t a frustrated thought, more of a humored thought! So, I went to talk to the agent, and she just said “Just give me your address and we’ll drop it off.” And I just laughed and said, “Well, I’m leaving for Moscow at 5:30, so I need it before then if possible!” And it came in on the 2pm flight, so we were all good :).
For lunch before I left Grandaddy, Sandra, Uncle Kurt, Grandaddy’s pastor, and 2 other women from his church came to see me off! And Katie and Phill and Hannah were there to round it out! We ate lunch and then prayed and then I headed off to check in! And now, I await my flight to Moscow... counting down the minutes!