I Miss You Already

What a whirlwind! Last week, I left our school at 10:30 a.m. on Wednesday. My flight left four hours later after a long bus ride, a re-entry fee of about $30, and a three minute train ride connecting the airport to the distant terminal. I boarded the aircraft bound for home. I was still in contact with my bride via text messaging. I informed her of my first of many bits of mercy: I had two seats to myself for the entire flight to San Francisco! I owned those seats. Sometimes I sat in one, sometimes I sat in the other. Sometimes I put my feet up in one and laid across the other with my back against the window like I was king of United Airlines. I listened to one set of headphones while watching the movie on the other screen. I basically did whatever I wanted. It was so choice!

When I landed in San Francisco, I had plenty of time to go through customs and be singled out for a thorough check of all four of my bags. I had so much time, in fact, that I was even cooperative. My connecting flight was not scheduled to depart until around 1:11 p.m. and I had arrived at 7:49 a.m. For those of you who are not constantly calculating time changes, the first flight lasted 10 and a half hours. I didn’t run through the airport, I walked calmly, staring at all the other travelers and avoiding the ones that sneezed or coughed or generally looked suspect. I am glad now that I did not run. It was 1 in the morning according to my mind and body (Korea time). My flight did not leave at 1:11 p.m. It did not leave at 2:11. It was closer to 5 p.m. in California before I finally headed to Kansas. That means I spent from my 1 a.m. to my 9 a.m. in an airport without sleeping except for a few accidental moments. Once again, however, I was given two seats for the price of one. No one sat by me on the way to Kansas either! When I finally landed in K.C., I think it was about 9 p.m. My mom had arrived at the airport at around 4:30 or 5:00 to make it in plenty of time for my original 6 or 6:30 arrival. I wasn’t the only one spending large chunks of time in airports. I would like everyone to know that I could not have made this trip if it had not been for my mom. She wasn’t just my chauffeur to and from the airport. She was my room and board, my ride anywhere in Kansas or Missouri, and she was my moral support. Thanks mom!

Needless to say, (why do we even have this saying? it’s used right before you say something, if it were really needless to say, wouldn’t we just refrain from saying it?) I was extremely tired. I didn’t sleep much in the 25 hours that I had been traveling. After a long, hot, much needed shower… I slept. I slept the sleep of the innocent, for thirty minutes. I jolted awake due to some unidentified noise with my fatigued heart racing. I fell asleep again and didn’t wake up again for another 3 1/2 hours. It was strange, no matter how tired I was, I couldn’t sleep more than about 4 hours each night. Friday night, I made sure to get at least 6 hours to prepare for the wedding.

Typing of the wedding, it was the reason I had flown 7000 miles. Jonathan and Katie Sperry. It was such an amazing wedding! I don’t think I would have been so excited if I hadn’t known that it would be amazing. I’m glad that I was able to capture so much of the feeling and excitement and emotion of the day. It was truly an honor and a privilege to be able to do this wedding. It was such a great experience. Not only was I able to witness and record the joining of the lives of two close friends, but the images I have captured will also be the basis of the launch of my new photography studio. I will be creating a new website and blog that is devoted to my new venture and J&K’s wedding images will be the visual cornerstone. Jonathan and Katie, thank you for giving me this opportunity. You guys so totally rock.

As I mentioned on Sunday morning, I was asked numerous times about Sarah. She seems to have come through the ordeal of being without me quite well. (almost too well). I was also questioned many times about how I was handling the jet lag. I will tell you now, the Sarah lag was much more brutal.

A quick note about my return journey: After being dropped off at my gate in Kansas City, I was informed that the plane couldn’t leave due to weather in San Francisco. (something about a low ceiling). They did remind us that the same weather would probably delay our connecting flights in San Fran, so don’t worry about missing them. No such luck. Do you ever pray and ask God for something and then give Him some options as to how He can accomplish it? Why do we do this? He’s God! His ways are so far above our ways. After waiting for two hours (the amount of time my layover in S.F. should have been) I boarded the plane in K.C. and began to pray that I made the connecting flight. Option one was that God could just make the plane late because of the “low ceiling” like my first flight. I think option two was that I made the flight by the skin of my teeth. (gross). I was not only asking God for something, but telling Him how. I’m glad God doesn’t have to do what we say. His ideas are usually way cooler. In this case, the board said that the flight to Korea had left about 45 minutes before we landed in San Francisco. Then, after a long ordeal of traipsing from one end of the airport to the other, the plane seemed to magically reappear at one of the gates and they let us on almost two hours after it had supposedly flown away. The plane had experienced some sort of malfunction with the fuel system that had to be taken care of before it could leave. God is awesome! They came all the way back to a gate and reopened the flight to let ten of us on. I made it back to my girl at about 9:15 p.m. on Tuesday night. I lost a day in the air, but I’ll find it again when we come home!

Thank you all for reading this way too long post. I hope it’s not too rambly. I have some great images from my trip and some even better memories. I will see everyone soon and I promise to bring Sarah next time.

p.s. - Special thanks to Chip for the use of Ellen’s car. It was a tremendous help!