Today is the Day - Fit

I think I have said "Today is the day!" about a hundred times since early November.  Let's count the times, shall we?

First time, I pretty sure it was when I took the Fitty (our nickname for Jasen's red Honda Fit) to St. Louis for shipment to the islands.  It was the first real moving task I had to accomplish.  It was a little nerve-wracking.  Some of you might not know that shipping a vehicle overseas is stressful.  They expect the car to be spic'n'span.  I was quite proud of myself when they told me that our car was very, very clean. 

Of course, once you get the car to St. Louis, which isn't exactly right because the place is actually on the other side of St. Louis, in Illinois, you have to get back to Ft. Leavenworth, which is over three hours away.  After considering taking the kids with me and riding the train back to KS, I decided it would be better for me to do it while the kids were at school and fly back home as soon as I could.  I arranged a flight on Southwest (cattle call, anyone?) about 3 hours after I dropped the car off.

I got to the airport with plenty of time to spare, so my taxi driver (who made a pretty penny off of me, as the car shipment place is over 40 minutes from the airport) dropped me off near the USO at the St. Louis airport.

Now, let me digress for a minute about the USO.  I had never been in one until the one in St. Louis.  I knew about the book reading offered at them, as Jasen did it at DFW once when  he was on his way back to Iraq from R&R.  I knew they tried to greet soldiers at the airports.  But this USO blew me out of the water.  I think it's the biggest in the continental United States.  There was a free snack bar, with lots of sodas, popcorn, hot dogs, chips and cookies.  Along the wall of that room were two TVs, with something different on each one.  The next room had 10, if not 15 leather recliners in front of a huge flat screen, with yet another show on.  Next room?  Computers, with at least 15 of those, and plenty of places to plug in your own.  And finally, there was the sleeping room.  Lights really, really dim and at least 10 beds made up for soldiers or their families to take a rest.

When I entered that USO, I started to cry.  I couldn't help but think of the money donated to the USO for this facility.  And the many volunteers who staff the area.  There were at least 8 volunteers while I was there.  Not being pushy (except about dropping your bags at the front), but just there to serve the soldiers.  While I was there, probably 40 service members filtered through.  There were kids who were on their way to basic, asking recent basic training graduates if it was really going to be as bad as they had been told.  There were soldiers returning from deployment, waiting on their next flight to take them closer or to home.  There were soldiers in uniform, soldiers in civilian dress. 

And families. There were families, too.  Mostly single women with children.  As I thought about them flying without their soldier (complete assumption on my part), I cried again.  One mom had a toddler and twin babies.  One of the volunteers sat with her and played the role of grandmother to the toddler.  I've been that single mom, flying without my soldier.  I've never had twin babies to deal with, but alone is alone.  I've never felt so alone as when my mom dropped Grace and I off for our first return flight to Germany after a visit to TX.  Grace was about a year old. I was loaded down with diaper bag, carry-on, car seat, purse, toiletry bag.  And struggling to get a one year old's shoes back on, while not holding up the security line.  What I would have given to have had one of those USO ladies helping me!  It pleased me greatly to know that mom had help, if only for an hour while she waited on her flight.

If you ever need a place to give back to soldiers or want to volunteer, please consider the USO.

Okay, digression and plug for the USO over! 

After I entered a little while in the USO and after I finished crying, I silently prayed and thanked God for His provision.  His hand has been on this move from the very beginning....

Of course, everything had run so smoothly, something was bound to try to trip me up.  My flight was delayed over an hour because of a power outage at the Kansas City airport.  UGH!  Those kinds of things always throw me for a loop.  I had a friend who had graciously agreed to pick up my kids from school and keep them until I got home.  Another friend had volunteered to pick me up.  I had to call them quickly to let them know I would be late.  It's hard for me to ask for help.  And it's even harder when I have already asked for help but need more.  Of course, my friends were so sweet and said things were fine and there would be no problem with my being later than I thought.

End of story?  I arrived home in time to see the beautiful red sky over Kansas City.  My kids had a great play-date and because of my lateness, already eaten dinner, too. 

And the best part?  Fitty was waiting for Jasen when he returned to Hawaii from Iraq.  And it was here when we got here.  Life is good!