The airport was slightly crowded as we waited in line for ages. We lugged our heavy bags forward slowly, until we reached the desk. My dad piled our bags on the scale, and then it was done. Our bags were on their way, and soon we would be, too.
My adopted grandmother picked us up and took us out for dinner nearby, while I never let go of my stuffed Winnie the Pooh. I had the last bacon cheese burger I would have for quite a while.
Dinner was a blur, and then we were in the car again. Something tightened around my chest, and I couldn't breathe.
"Mom, I can't breathe. I feel like I'm dying I just want to go home. I want this to all be over" I whispered.
"I know, sweetie. I feel the same way. But we can
't go back now. We just have to keep going" she replied in a tight voice.
We reached the airport and my adopted grandmother held us tightly, while we all started to cry.
"I know you're in the middle of God's will, but I still will miss you," she said, holding on to me.
Finally, we trudged forward, while I held on to Pooh. Nothing except this bear would feel the same again. OUr lives were not our own, we had to do what God wanted. I played my mini cd-player while we fought through security and towards the gate, listening to the Zoegirl song "Beautiful Name". We climbed onto the airplane in a daze. The British flight attendant looked down at me with what seemed like pity. We found our seats, and buckled in for the first overnight flight. As the plane took off I felt my heart pound and then I could swear I felt it stop beating. I shut my eyes and leaned against my mom.
When I opened my eyes my whole worlkd was different. I just wanted to go back to the home I never could go back to, where some strange couple was now living. I wanted my bunk bed back, but I had sold that and had been sleeping on my floor and then in our friend's house over the last month. I wanted my room back.
I had to find a way to live in a new world, just me, Pooh, and the God who had turned my life upside down.
Now I was officially a missionary kid.
Years later, I can pack a suitcase for a 6 week trip in an hour easily and never have an overweight bag.I can make my way through passport control on my own, and now I officially have an adult passport. Dulles International Airport has become my landmark... I know my way around, and I have become familiar with the disconcerting feeling that I am returning to a country where the majority of people have the same accent and color of skin that I do. I never set off a metal detector, and the only thing I've ever had confiscated was a stress relief ball that even the security people couldn't figure out if it had gel in it or not. I'm always so glad to know that God doesn't just stay in one country, but travels with me. Sadly enough, I don't travel with Pooh anymore.
That said, next year when I turn my world upside down and move across the globe again, Pooh will come with me... probably on the airplane, too.
