CLM Journal, Part 1

I‘ve been in Brazil for a week without updating my blog. I’ve been writing in a journal, so I will rewrite the entries here in various parts.

05 Aug 05 (roughly)
I am currently God knows how high above terra firma, over only He knows where (ok, the pilots probably know also, but they ain’t talkin’). I suspect we’re somewhere over the Atlantic around Central America. Boy does that feel odd to say. I’ve never been farther north than Toronto, Canada; no farther south than Orlando, FL; no farther west than Portland, OR; and no farther east than perhaps Long Island, NY. This is a brand new adventure for me, and one which I have no idea the outcome of.

Getting to this point was somewhat interesting. Cathy and I had a good flight to Chicago, and we met the Ohio kids on time. But then we noticed that Eric’s plane wasn’t supposed to arrive until 9:20. Our flight out was supposed to leave at 9:30. At 9:15 I called Eric, and his plane had just landed, but he was still sitting on it. To add insult to bad scheduling, none of the Ohio kids had seat assignments. While we waited for Eric, they were called one by one to the desk to get a seat. I remember Andrew coming back and saying “They’re waiting for more seats to open up.” Thankfully we all got seating arrangements as the Gatekeeper called out “You have 30 seconds left to board.” All of us, that is, except David. Oh, and still no sign of Eric. Those of us with seats were sent to the plane. We stowed our belongings and got to our seats. Still no David, still no Eric. Andrew and I switched seats – twice – and we remained two men short. Finally, after being on board for at least five minutes, David came strolling in. A few minutes later Eric surprised us, and we were all finally united. And there was much rejoicing (yaaaay!).

Today also marks the blessed event of Melanie’s birth, or as they say in Spanish “El birtho de Melania” (I know, I know…nacimiento). Unbeknownst to her, as many aboard this Boeing 767 as would care to will be singing happy birthday to her after breakfast. You gotta love fun flight attendants.

And finally…finalmente…what on earth have I gotten myself into? I used to be the guy who always said what I was going to do but never actually did it. Maybe I was afraid of the commitment involved, maybe I couldn’t handle it, whatever. It’s been three years since I first expressed the desire to go to CLM, but now that I’m actually doing it I find a small sense of panic. I really don’t know why; it’s quite literally a dream come true. It’s that part of me that shies away from commitment, or maybe it’s just laziness. Who knows? I do know that it’s about time! I’m glad I’m here, and I eagerly await the spiritual education I will receive.

Jayzilla out! (for now)

More great posts:

• Trip to CLM, part 6
• Trip to CLM, part 5
• Trip to CLM, part 4
• Trip to CLM, part 3
• Trip to CLM, part 2