The Crossing

The great thing about God is that every day can be a new and exciting adventure.  Sometimes I can just be in my own living room and sometimes I can be out running around out in the world. I thought this particular trip would be like the others and the fun would begin once we got to Kenya, but God had other plans in store!  The adventure was to begin oh, so much sooner!  We drove down to LA the day before we were to leave the U.S., which all Central Coast people know, is an adventure in itself!  We got to spend the night at the Park 'n Fly Travel Lodge - just to get ready for developing country living and set our alarms for 3 a.m. to catch our 6 a.m. flight to Minnesota.  Because Roger ALWAYS wants to sit on the aisle seat, I ALWAYS get to sit in the middle seat, which means I get to sit scrunched very close to him and beside somebody else.  NEVER has someone wanted to visit with me, but this trip, here was Stephanie right beside me, talking (and entertaining me) from the minute I sit down to the minute we parted, some two hours after landing....that was the beginning of our trip... then the layover in Minneapolis...cold, icey, and then the 11 hour flight to Amsterdam with SIX SCREAMING babies on board...thankfully, not all crying at the same time...more like taking turns...I think they had a pact with each other before boarding and just traded off so one of them didn't have to carry the full weight of annoying all of us the whole time...then three hours in delightful Amsterdam--what little I could see, but wonderful shops in the airport selling tulip bulbs and Belgian chocolates and blue delft china...and then finally, boarded the 10 hour flight to Nairobi, Kenya...only to find out I was sitting in the back of the plane in a middle seat and Roger was in the front of the plane in a window seat.  NO WAY!!!  After no sleep for so many hours and now aboard a flight with mostly Kenyans and Muslims,and, remember the six screaming babies from the previous flight?  Well, they had made a pact with their friends - other babies who were flying onto Kenya! I'm seriously not kidding! But, back to the seating problem...not to worry, my Hero comes to rescue!  God or Roger...who knows...at this point...I was so relieved, because at least we were together...poor seats, but together...Roger's knees in his face, by the window--me, of course, in the middle seat, thankfully scrunched close beside him and now both of us so tired, we quickly fall asleep after take off! After landing, in Nairobi, we are at last on familiar turf, grab our luggage, get through customs and make our way over to the domestic flights and wait the three hours to get our flight to Mombosa.  The end is at last in sight.  I glance over and am taken with an older couple.  My gosh, they must be in their 80's.  I can't believe it.  Here they are just making their way off and on planes, grabbing their luggage off the turn-style, like they did it every day of their lives.  The man is so old that he is bent over, with white hair, his face wrinkled and weathered, his glasses worn low in the middle of his nose.  He is very intense and muttering to himself about this and that, while his wife very serenely goes over and lifts the luggage off the turn-style and puts it on the carrier to go through customs.  They, obviously, have come with us from Amsterdam and now are on their way to Mombosa.  When we finally arrive, I see them again, making the long trek through customs, taking the long walk, with all of their luggage from the international terminal to domestic, then another long wait, and then boarding our flight to Mombosa.  I am so surprised when we get to our hotel, for there they are, quite easily and adeptly getting out of the cab, getting their luggage, going in, now at 1:00 in the morning to go to bed for the night.  I can't help but wonder...will this be Roger and myself 20 years from now.  I pray to God it would be so. The next morning we run downstairs to get our breakfast, such as it is, and there, I can't believe it, is the older couple, already walking down the street, with their Kenyan guide.  They are already about their day going and seeing and doing.  I am barely functioning, and they are busily seeing what adventure awaits them!  Actually, after a cup of tea, I am almost ready to see what adventure God has awaiting for us us, too!