The Reunion that Brought Tears to My Eyes

I left the house at about 1:00 Saturday afternoon. I stopped by Target for what seems like the 12th time this week. From there I headed up toward the airport. I stopped by the Embassy Suites and picked up Natalie's backpack that we had inadvertently left there last weekend. Then I went to the airport to pick up Myles.

His flight from Chicago was scheduled to arrive at 2:50. I was there at 2:30. As I was waiting, I noticed a couple who were waiting for the same flight. They were probably early to mid 50s. The husband was nervously pacing back and forth. The wife was anxiously looking around, checking her watch, scanning the arrival board and watching out the window for the plane. She was telling her husband, "fix your shirt," "it's time for the plane to be here," "are you sure this is the door they will come out?" I was very curious to see which passenger on this plane had this couple so out of sorts.

The plane pulled up to the gate. A few minutes later the exit door to the main area was opened by an airport employee. Then people started coming off the plane. The wife drew in a big breath and started to cry as the second person walked through the jetway. It was a young US soldier in his army fatigues. His parents ran to him as he exited the gate, and there were quiet tears among spectators who happened to be standing nearby. The young man and his dad headed off to the restroom. I asked the mom how long he had been away. She said he had been in Iraq for a year this time and that now he is home for good. I'm glad I was a witness to this today.

Myles exited the plane several minutes later. He has been gone for 10 months, though we just left him in Gdansk a week ago. His homecoming trip was quite an adventure. http://mylesgartland.blogspot.com/2010/06/only-22-hours-late.html We both agree that international travel stinks. We also agree that the right sets of mishaps happened to the right people. I would not have had the patience to haul all the kids and all of our stuff from terminal to terminal trying to resolve the flightmare he endured. I would have shut it all down much sooner, rented a minivan and driven to Kansas from New Jersey.

But all's well that ends well. We are all home now. We have found a minivan to buy. We will be picking it up tomorrow. In the meantime we are making do with Myles' car that seats five people.

Next we need to go pick up our cat and bring her home.