Home For a Birthday And a Wedding

Going into this year, there was one date that had been sort of pre-decided before I left.  I had a wedding in Chicago over the Labor Day weekend... and Chicago is way too close to Michigan to miss out on seeing my love and my family for a few days.

Things I didn't know:

1) Trenton - So, from me - LaGuardia airport is usually the cheapest airport and takes 45-60 minutes of travel depending on the day.  JFK is about 30-45 minutes and Newark is 30 minutes, tops.  They're not too far away, but the kicker is (as I stated earlier) that the cheapest airport is the furthest away.  Turns out, kayak.com alerted me to another option.  Apparently there's an airport in Trenton, New Jersey.  No one here had ever heard of it, but they offered direct flights to Detroit and Chicago for extremely cheap.  In fact, I was able to book a flight into Detroit and a flight out of Chicago, both, for less than $178.  The best parts?  It is only an hour to an hour and a half away... AND it has free parking.  I didn't have to worry about public transit because my car could stay there for free.  Awesome!

2) Kenden's 2nd Birthday Party - This wasn't something I didn't know... just something I didn't realize.  Kenden's birthday is August 31st.  It just didn't occur to me that I would actually be HOME for his 2nd birthday party!  I was so excited to celebrate with him!  :)  And hand-deliver his birthday gift: Dr. Seuss books and a backpack to match!

3) The Body Shop - I got a phone call about a month earlier from The Body Shop in Woodland Mall.  You see, back before I left, I went shopping with a good friend, Megan, and we stopped into that store.  I remember very well my thought process that went as follows: "Oh, look, a fishbowl thingy for a drawing!  I have a crap-ton of business cards that I need to get rid of in the next couple weeks.  Why not?"  Turns out, I won either a make-up date or a foot spa date for me and a few friends.  Lucky me!  I invited my sister (Shawn), Amber and Megan (the girl with whom I was originally shopping) to join me.  We had our feet soaked, scrubbed and sprayed with menthol-smelling stuff.  It was a very good pampering session with some wonderful ladies!  :)

4) Friends from far and near - This part I actually expected, but didn't realize how blessed I would feel to be in their presence again.  Matt and Jen were getting married.  Matt, for those of you who may not know, was another missions volunteer in Budapest, Hungary.  One of the neat things we shared the second half of the year was lunch.  Every day, we would meet at the hospital for lunch right next to the office.  In honor of that, because the reception was a potluck, I made and brought the first food Matt and I ever shared together: Hungarian Fruit Soup.
Well, it seems that each year we are able to reunite and celebrate in someone's wedding.  It's become a fun tradition!  Well, turns out that Timothee, Matt's French roommate from Hungary, once promised Matt that if he got married, he would take the trip to the USA and be in attendance.  Emilie, Emily and Lisa (and Danny) were also in attendance - coming from Boston, Chicago and Texas respectively.  It was so wonderful to see everyone and reconnect.

Me and Timothee, the Frechman:

The pastor enjoying my fruit soup - a definite hit:

5) The hardest goodbye - Something I never expected was the difficulties coming with this long distance relationship.  Seeing Eaic is always something that I celebrate with great anticipation.  What I hate anticipating is the moment when we part ways again.  As much as we prepare for it, it has never been easy.  This last trip was especially hard because we didn't have a plan for when we would see each other next.  As we traveled from Grand Rapids to Chicago, it was hard to believe that in a matter of days, we'd be separated again.  On Tuesday, when Eaic was supposed to leave, he said he'd wait a few more hours and then leave.  Then, when it came to be that time, he found out that I'd be just sitting in a cafe or restaurant waiting for my friend to get out of class and so he said he'd wait until she got out with me.  Then, as night drew closer, it became apparent that he'd be driving back very tired.  We asked Emily (with whom I was already staying) if he could stay as well.  Prolonging the inevitable, but then again, who wouldn't want to spend more time with the one they love?!  Let's just say the next morning was super hard.  It came too quickly and too early... and watching him drive away and leave Chicago was heartbreaking.

Traveling to Chicago:

Waiting for our Chicago-style pizza:

*****

I have one update.

Eaic and I will be together for Thanksgiving weekend!  Yay!

Silke kommst!

Let's travel back in time, shall we?  Let's transport back to July 2010, when I was 27 years old and crossing oceans for freedom and adventure.  On July 15th and 16th, I said "goodbye" to two people I truly wondered if I would ever see again... and it broke my heart.  Silke and Silvia and I had bonded so much in one year, we had become more than flatmates and bordered on sisters.  It was a sad day when we parted.

Fast forward to August 2013.  Silke, along with her boyfriend, Christian, and her best friend Alex traveled to Toronto, Canada for a the world champion ultimate frisbee tournaments.  Because they were going to be here, they decided to take a major road trip along the east coast.  The three of them rented a car and drove across part of Canada, then through the state of New York, over to Boston and back into NYC.  They hiked through pouring rain and drove through beautiful days.  They camped in campgrounds and along the roadside.  They pretty much had the great American roadtrip.

To top it all off - they were coming to NYC.  The best part?  I live in NYC now.  Woo-hoo!  It couldn't have worked out better!

On Monday night, they drove into Staten Island and found my apartment without problem.  It was a surreal moment when Silke and I were reunited after 3 years.  Our first step was to see what had only been seen in books - The Statue of Liberty.  We drove along the terrace and hopped on the Staten Island Ferry.  As Alex called it, it was a "not real minute."  It really didn't seem like it was real, but as we took the ferry back across the bay and saw the statue lit up against a clear night's sky, it also seemed perfect and wonderful... and as though the world isn't really so big after all.

The next day, I had a very full day of work, so I couldn't hang out with them at all - but they were happy to experience public transit and Manhattan.  As we all returned that evening, it was so good to just share stories.

And... just like that, they were gone.  The next morning, I had to leave early to work at El Centro and they left around 9a to begin their long drive back to Toronto.

Of course, I'll leave you with pictures... but another surreal moment to share.  As I wrote most of this, I drank hot tea - a ritual of evenings in Hungary.  :)