I haven't posted in FOREVER! But I was recently packing up my bedroom before my grandma moves. I came acrossed a notebook that I had written in many, many months ago. After re-reading the many pages, that night quickly came back to me. I was sittin' in my bed in tears. I didn't know what else to do so I wrote about it. Here's the.......letter, article, whatever it shall be. But it ISN'T a story. Keagan taught me that stories aren't true. And this is VERY true.
I'll never forget that day. The day Jaime jokingly asked me to go to Africa with her. The day I jokingly asked my mom if I could.
I expected a definent "NO!" Instead, much to my surprise, I got something along the lines of "yeah, let me call the school and make sure it won't interfer with you graduating." I remember it like it was yesterday. I ran outside to tell Jaime. I couldn't talk. I smiled and handed her my phone to read the text. We were both in shock. There was about 4 months between the day I got that text and the day we left. Pure torture.
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Never in my life have I felt what I felt that day. I had never been on a plane. I'm not one to leave my comfort zone.
I haven't really posted much about that day. And it's heavy on my heart now so I figured I'd throw it out there.
We went and stayed with Uncle Barry the night before we flew out. I felt bad because I wasn't sad to be leaving. Yet I wasn't really excited either. I'm not sure what I was, but I was happy and I knew that's what I was supposed to be doing.
I didn't get much sleep that night, don't think Jaime did either. We were up nice and early to shower and get to the airport. I wasn't scared, I wasn't nervous, I wasn't excited. I just felt right.
Sittin' at the airport, I had no idea what to talk about. I had never been on a plane, never been out of the country. I had no idea what questions to ask.
When we got on the plane, I wasn't sittin' with Jaime. That worried me a little. First time flying and I wasn't sittin' with someone I knew. I discovered my love for flying. It's AMAZNG! Being over Columbus at 5 in the morning. It was beautiful. That flight was only 50 minutes. Then we were in D.C. The excitement hit me. I was going to AFRICA! I was going to make a difference. I, miss doesn't do anything crazy, was doing something crazy!!!
The next flight I was with Jaime. 12 hours. I kept tryin' to sleep and that just wasn't happening. I was too excited.
Gettin off the plane, I didn't know what to expect. It looked likeI was walkin' off the plane into a huge field. When actually what was hidden behind that airport proved me wrong. After Visa and Immigration, we got our luggage and headed out to find Levi. All I could see was a huge mass of Ethiopians. And all of a sudden I heard, "There he is!" Jaime had found him. In the mix of people we stood. And out of nowhere came Abel and Hana. And I turned around and there was Yonatan. Had they been there the whole time or did they have specail powers? I still wonder.
That's when I saw what the airport had hid from me. The huge city, Addis Ababa. I still think I say it wrong but that's besides the point. The city looked like our city. Just a little less.......nice? It was nice in it's own way. Kinda homey feeling. I liked it.
We made our way to Levi and Jessie's house. It was AMAZING. In the states you would have to be rich to have that nice of a place. We all went out for pizza. Most of you are probably thinkin', "okay she's in a foreign country and she's eating pizza?!" Well let me tell ya. It wasn't like any pizza I had ever had. It wasn't bad, just different.
Jaime and I met up with Abel. And of course he had us walking miles. Keep in mind we were severely jet lagged. I actually had to tell Jaime what we did that day. She didn't remember.
I can't go day to day on what we did because honestly, I don't remember every day. It was all too much crammed into a short time period.
We visited another American family that had a daycare place. There was so many cute kids. I just wanted to take them with me. There was a younger boy that had cerebral palsy. All he could do was lay on his belly. He was adorable and I just wanted to hold him.
Jaime and I went to KUI orphanage. We got to help feed the babies and play with the toddlers. That's when I met Twinkle. I walked in the door and this boy and girl ran right up to me. I sat down, one on each leg. The girl played and got up a few times. Twinkle just looked at me and smiled. He had his one toy and made me squeeze it so it would sing. I had a hair tie on my wrist, he played with it and held my hand between his tiny little hands. I fell in love.
Later that night we were out on one of the balconies and Jaime asked me, "What's on your mind? Tell me what you're thinking about." It's almost like she knew my mind was raacing. I thought a million times on what to say. I couldn't come up with anything but the truth, "The boy at the orphanage." I almost felt crazy having cared so much about him. I was reassured that it wasn't crazy, "I figured."
Nights out on the balconies were probably my favorite part of the trip. The times when it was just me and Jaime and we could have heart to heart over the night sounds. I tried to find words to thank her for bringing me and letting me experience this with her, but she beat me to it. "I'm glad you are here with me." I wish I could take you all to that moment. The moment when everything seemed perfect. I was speechless. All I could do was hug her and say, "It's all thanks to you."
We drug poor Yonatan to Asosa. A tiny little place, a 55 minute flight from Addis. So close to the Sahara that the ground was nothing but red sand and beautiful green shrubs and trees. I was sick my whole time there but I still had a great time. Got to meet the greatest group of kids ever. They pretended to be ninjas and monkeys and did anything just to have our attention. We had bouncy balloons that ended up busted. Monster trucks that ended up tireless. Sticky hands that ended up covered in sand. But we also had 5 beautiful smiles. And that made it all worth it. We continued to visit them the 3 days we were there. Another little boy had stolen my heart, Z-man.
He kept crouching down and motioning me to do the same. He wanted a piggy-back ride. Once he was on my back, he would say something that sounded like "Tennessee", I knew from stories, that meant "up." We did that routine for hours.
When it came time to leave there, I was heart broken. I didn't wanna leave them.
Back in Addis, we only had a couple more days before we headed home. Those days seemed to fly by, unfortunently.
The night we flew out was terrible. I didn't wanna leave. As I sat in the airport waiting for our flight, I was on my ipod telling my mom and best friend I was bout to head home. I held back tears. I didn't wanna head home. I wasn't done with my trip. It wasn't long enough.
I held it together for Jaime and so I didn't humiliate myself in the airport. But what I realla wanted to do was get down on my knees and cry, plea, ask God "Why me?" "Why here?" "Why do I have to leave my heart here?" "Why can't I love a place a little closer to home?"
I fought tears loading onto the plane. Neither of us spoke. We didn't need to. We were feeling the same thing.
The plane ride was miserable. I don't know if it really was or if it was just because I was broken. My heart was left shattered in the airport.
It wasn't until we landed in D.C. again that it kicked in. I was heading home to my family and Thanksgiving dinner. My heart was lifted ever so slightly.
The farther it gets from the time I was there, the more I miss it. On random nights I just think about it and fight tears. I thought writing this would help get this off my chest. But honestly, I think I could scream it from Mt. Everest and not feel any better. So until I get back there, you guys get these post <3
