Off they flew, into the wild blue yonder, Climbing high into the sun!
Off they flew into the wild blue yonder, back to where their adventure began!
I awakened last Friday to a whirlwind day. Ariel and I had some things to do Friday that apparently was an emergency and not what I needed on that particular day. We rushed around to get everything done and got back to Bruce by lunch time so Ariel could go vote absentee in the city election. Then we arrived home so Ping could start loading her luggage in the van for the trip to Golden Triangle Regional Airport. Her departure time was 3:45pm.
I was busy cleaning out the accumulation of junk and bottles and mail from the front of the van and Ping was busy tossing bags in through the rear doors. I would run back each time to snap a picture trying to document her last day with us like I tried with Jieun.
We finally all climbed into the van and made a quick stop at Moms so Ping could give her and Bella some gifts. Then we made a stop at Jeffery’s so she could get her last lunch there of pasta salad. We took pictures there also. We made one last swing around the square so she could have a visual goodbye to the Town of Bruce and we were finally off.
We laughed along the way about how she was staying awake which was so different from the first time we had made the trip and she fell asleep within 15 minutes. She was busy looking at things and talking about things that had happened to her during her 10 month stay with us.
When we arrived at the GTR we went in and she had to put all of her shampoos and other liquid toiletries into the luggage that would be checked. One of her bags could expand so she unzipped the expanding panels and shoved in the rest of her hand carried items and it took Ariel and Erin and Leslie holding and pushing down on the top while Ping was struggling to get it all zipped and strapped back down. After much grunting and pushing, the poor little bag was ready to be checked.
Pings ticket was ready and her passport and papers were in order so we walked around to the checkpoint area. There were no tears only laughter and everyone was hugging and saying goodbye as she went through the first checkpoint. We laughed as she took off her shoes and we saw she had on some wildly striped socks. She was just dancing and hopping with a huge smile on her face. She was so ready to go.
Finally after all of her carry on things were checked and rechecked, she was allowed to gather her things and segue into the passenger waiting area. We were separated by a glass wall so we were standing there laughing at her taking pictures of us taking pictures of her.
After a few minutes the passengers were allowed to board the small turbo prop plane. We went up to the mezzanine so we could watch the plane taxi down the runway and take off. We watched the red and gray plane as it gathered speed and lifted its nose into the air and made a graceful liftoff. As it turned into the wind and then made the flight pattern and headed toward Memphis I realized that our time as a Host Family was officially over for now.
The drive back to Bruce was quiet. We were all thinking about what all we needed to do when we returned. Supper had to be cooked, laundry was waiting, Ariel was going to move her things back into her bedroom now that both the girls were gone, Erin had grass to cut and Scott had to go to work after he dropped us off.
I came in and sat at my desk and suddenly a message from Ping popped up on my facebook page. It said “ i am at memphis airport right now ! paying five dallors for 15 mins internet...i miss u guys so much...i cried as soon as i got on airplane...cuz i started to miss u guys already...i am sad still!!!”
Then I cried.
Being the Host family for foreign exchange students has been a wonderful experience for us. The girls became a part of our family and everyday lives. Its going to be hard on them to make the readjustment to their culture just as we are having to readjust to them not being here. But I wouldn’t have missed this experience for anything.
Off they flew into the wild blue yonder, back to their Mom’s waiting arms!
We’ll be here in the Fall waiting to meet just one more!
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