I (finally) made it to DC!

Let's just say, today was a day to go down in the books. I have waited for this day, to finally GO, for the past year. But I really have waited many, many years for this opportunity to present itself. Today's word of the day is finally, in case you haven't figured it out :) I'll probably use it at least 10 more times in this post. Just be prepared.

My day started at 9 am when my dad came to start waking me up. I finally (1) got up at 9:30 (completely groggy because I took a Dramamine to go to sleep last night). Took a shower...couldn't eat because I was so nervous/filled with anticipation! My mom was finishing sewing in extra lining into my down coat. Mitchell came by to say farewell :)

And to draw on the car (excuse the dirt...) and we were off to the airport by 11:35 am. Flight was supposed to leave at 2:30 pm. More on that later.

After getting my bags checked, my parents and I waited for friends to come see me off. They left right after church...so it was at least 12:30ish by the time they got up there. Amy and Susan Carruth were the first to arrive :) started tearing up immediately. Here's a pic of Amy and I from Eastern Europe 2004.

Lydia, Karen, Amy, Melissa, and our adult sponsor, Heather.

Then others started showing up :) so touching to see all of these people when I'm leaving.

Front row: Tino, Dymir, Susan, Cary, Lydia, Lyndsay, Katie, Ashley

2nd row: Sarah, Amy, Marissa, Maddie, Allison, Sarah, Sydney, Shannon, Bennett, Nathan, Jeff

3rd row: Pirtle, Stephanie, Schlegel, Scott, Britney, Gracie

It was overwhelming to say goodbye to everyone...and it totally didn't feel real (it actually still doesn't feel real, that this is finally {2} happening). Let's just say, that tears were shed, hugs were given, and lots of smiles were shown. Love each and every one of you. Don't have a pic on my camera of my parents and I, but hopefully Mom will send me a few!

I got through security, feeling exhausted, overwhelmed, and honestly just wanting to sleep. Then, I found out my flight was delayed. Turns our Chicago had grounded all of their flights for the time being because of a severe thunderstorm passing through the area. That put a damper on my flight to/from Chi-town. Great...

Let me take a side note and say this: for the past week, I have felt like something was going to go wrong with my flight. I was supposed to be meeting Hayley for the first time in DC upon arriving...she wouldn't have her cell phone with her...and I just felt like something wasn't right. So sure enough, that proved to be the case. Getting back to the story...

I quickly called my brother to see whether I should try to get a different flight or stick with the Chicago one...knowing how backed up O'hare can be, my brother convinced me to go with the sure fire plan of arriving in DC at 11 pm (as opposed to 9 pm). This flight took me through Houston now. Approximately 5 minutes later, after getting settled in at my new gate number (still in OKC), the OKC Airport fire alarms start going off. There are maybe 10 people at my gate, no airport personnel, and no one knows what to do. The sirens are going off as well as a voice telling us to evacuate the building. And NO one has any clue as to what we're supposed to do. The emergency doors leading outside are locked because they lead out to the tarmac. lol...so we all just stood around in the middle pathway of the airport. Quite entertaining really. Eventually, the sirens go off and they come on to tell us that the fire alarm was actually just a test. Don't you normally tell people that before you start it?

OH, I forgot an important part to the story. While my support crew was saying goodbye at the check-in counter, a screaming child was also checking in. Amy looked over and said, I bet that kid is on your flight. And she was unfortunately correct. However, I didn't end up TAKING that flight, so it worked out quite nicely. And the family of the said screaming child had one of those airport rental carts that they left at the door...so I took it and put my 40+ pounds of carry-ons on it. It was glorious :) and served as a good foot rest too...

My flight finally left at 5:05 pm, and I flew straight to Houston on one of those tiny 2-1 seater planes. Realizing that I would arrive there and have to SPRINT across the Houston airport to another terminal, I was incredibly nervous. I had facebooked Hayley, explaining that my flight was delayed and that she'd need to get her own taxi. Little did I know that her original flight was also 2 hours delayed as well. Perfect! I made it to my flight (practically running) and didn't have time to grab a drink or supper. BUT, I made it...and might have been sweating, but I got on the plane! As I was giving the lady my boarding pass, she asked me who else I was traveling with because I had so much stuff. Whoops... :) On the plane, I had a nice gentleman help me put (read squash) my carry-on bag up top. And I lucked out and had one of the few empty seats on the plane next to me! Perfection.

Got to watch the sunset while on board...

I arrived into DC National airport at 11 pm...and hoped that Hayley's flight was still the same! She got in around 11:30...and off we went to the hotel. I've got a great picture of Hayley with all 8 suitcases of ours (2 checked bags each, plus 1 carry-on and 1 personal item). That will have to be for tomorrow's upload. Upon arriving at our hotel, we saw what looked like another PC volunteer looking tired and carrying a heck of a lot of luggage...and sure enough there was Ben! Turns out none of us had had time to eat dinner, so we met back up a bit later to order pizza. During our time in the lobby, we met maybe 10 other people with PC :) fun times. My roomie for my 2 nights in DC is Noelia, a Texas girl! She also went to school in Boston so it was nice to have instant connections.

I'm pooped and ready to sleep...thank you for all of the kind words over the past few days. I have felt incredibly loved and can't wait to share my story. Hopefully more tomorrow :) PC stuff starts at noon. Night night!