Sarah was SO excited that we bought her a plane ticket to go join her two brothers and sister in Washington State for Thanksgiving. I drove her to Mike’s office after school on Monday and he took her to the airport. This is her second time flying alone but I felt pretty secure knowing she had one plane switch in Phoenix, and then her sister would pick her up in Spokane.
The best laid plans…we discovered her plane was delayed in Chicago almost an hour and a half which meant she would miss her connecting flight. By the time we discovered there weren’t any more flights headed to Spokane Monday night (not to mention a blizzard happening in Spokane) she was already in the air and on her way to Arizona.
Imagine the panic we felt when we realized she’d be in a city by herself. We spoke with ticket agents and they assured us they’d meet her at the gate and get her safely to a hotel, then shuttle her back to the terminal in the morning for the next flight out. I thought it might be a fun adventure for her to take a hot shower, curl up on a big bed in a hotel robe and watch a movie. One little glitch…no one seemed to be listening when we kept saying she was only 17. Minors can’t go to a hotel. Instead she was taken to a room in the terminal somewhere, given a mat, pillow, blanket and an agent to watch over her.
She handled herself like a “trooper” and after not much sleep, no shower and way too much time spent sitting and waiting (at gates and on planes) she finally arrived safely at her destination. Once surrounded by her big brothers and sister she jumped right into the joy of her visit. She might argue with the saying “life is the journey, not the destination”…
I believe that despite the inconvenience of spending the night at the airport (and the fear her Daddy and I felt) that God had heard my prayer for protection. The plane in Chicago had some mechanical difficulty and it was discovered before it left the runway. The blizzard in Spokane would have made landing late at night very difficult. So… this trip might not have been smooth, but it was safe.
Now all I have to try not to worry about is my children driving through the mountain pass in snow and ice to their former hometown which has a power-outage. Piece of cake! Or should I say pie?...
Wishing everyone a safe and Happy Thanksgiving!
“For I know the one in whom I trust, and I am sure that he is able to guard what I have entrusted to him until the day of his return…” 2Timothy 1:12
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