The beginning......

It's been an interesting couple of days. i would never have expected to struggle in the ways I have. I have learned a lot about myself and how I may not be as flexible as I used to be. I hate that about myself. I attribute it to age and that makes me hate it even more.

We had a great flight from Jackson to Atlanta. The international terminal in Atl. was an excellent place to hang out for the four hours we were there. We ate, walked around, hijacked a wheelchair so the two man-children could race around the terminal. It would have been embarrassing but we were waiting to get on a 1 am flight. We were all a little punchy.

The next 14 1/2 hours would show my inability to be the flexible and easy going person I thought I was. That flight was pure torture to me and I looked around at all the other "economy" flyers waiting for someone to start pounding on the window or escape hatch screaming "let me out, let me out". I never saw it happen and knowing how that kind of thing is frowned upon I chose not to be the first to beg so urgently for my escape.

There was a period of time that I honestly thought the rest of my life would be spent on that plane. I was overjoyed to hear the announcement that it was time to begin the plane's descent. All 240 of us filed into the airport near Seoul, S. Korea. It was a great airport and we were excited to meet 3 other adoptive couples on their way to China. We had our first struggle with ordering food ( not to be our last) but learned a bit and struggled through only to realize that we would be fed on the plane to Guangzhou almost immediately.

The flight to Guangzhou was only 3 hours which was no big deal after the previous flight. When we left that flight the other adoptive couples and our family walked through immigration and waited in line to see what our near future would be. It appeared (key word throughout our entire experience) that only one of us would have to rearrange our day for changed or cancelled flights. They were the veteran couple coming to pick up their 3rd and 4th adopted children. They were gracious as their experience told them to be flexible and to go with the flow. We said goodbye as we all travelled to different gates and to different cities. We would see each other again in a week. We would all have so much to share and talk about when we saw each other again.

I will write more as i am able. I am so sorry that I haven't been able to post the way I had envisioned. Another lesson learned is my almost panicked feeling I got when I realized I'd have limited communication with "my people" .

Until next time...