A daily reflection by Ema and Elle ~
We arrived at the airport and David was a blessing and stayed to help carry our bags and get us checked in. He has become such a great caring friend during our time here. I am so grateful for those we meet along the way. He is a geologist and has traveled the world including to Easter island. Such a interesting soul. Thank you again for being our night in shinning armor and getting us to our flight!
Soon we were waiting for our flight. I love that the wait is outdoors. Much better than being trapped in a busy building you can’t leave. We were still confined behind the walls, but sitting in the night air taking in the last breaths for now of this sweet Hawaiian air was soothing.
Elle was sad to go, and I felt it too, but I cheered us by dreaming of all the journeys still to come and reflecting back on all the beautiful moments we have had. It felt unreal to be leaving. Elle kept asking if we could just stay, and I so wish we could, but our time has come to a close for now.
We were one of the first to board the plane and walked out across the runway. With our ukuleles and all our bags in hand we made our way onto the plane and got settled in. I kept offering to help Elle carry something, but she is a determined little soul. This will be the long flight and we hope to sleep through the night.
Hopefully we won’t be away too long. The island is definitely a perfect place for us and holds a piece of my heart. Mahalo and Aloha for this moment here. We got as cozy as can be in our seats and Elle and Victor our Shore Buddies friend looked out the window into the Hawaiian night. We sent out messages of love and turned our phones to airplane mode.
We made our way across the ocean, and our first stop was through Phoenix. Elle wanted to stay and visit, but we were onto the next plane. To my great surprise a very dear friend who is like a mama to me was sitting right in front of was. It was magical to find her in this moment, as we had been missing one another along our paths for a couple years now. She is a wise women and shared her vision on my brothers passing. Moments with her are always powerful and perfectly aligned.
Elle and I got settled in for the second longest flight which would bring us to Chicago. Our Shore Buddies friend was tucked in for the journey too. There were some beautiful vies crossing the country from above. It was interesting to think that this summer we had just driven across this path and now we were having another perspective.
We had some time before our last flight to Michigan and went to find food. On the way Elle met a young women who had the perfect suitcase for her outfit today, and we stopped for a photo. She has been pointing out how she needs her own luggage for travel. Thus far we just combine our bags usually and use what I have.
We went to find a restaurant I used to dine at on my flights out to Europe. A wonderful women named Selam worked there and was always so kind. I was so happy to find her still there years later, and now with a little one. She shared pictures and we caught up a moment before having a bite to eat.
Elle got her lemonade to go in a coffee cup for our last leg of this journey. She was excited it said Seattle on it. A place I hope to take her someday and she dreams to go, but we just did not have enough time this summer. It was originally in the plan, but will have to wait for the next warm season.
We boarded our last flight and would be landing Flint in less than an hour. It is going to be cold after Hawaii, but our dear Thomas is meeting us with our winter jackets.
We had to stop for one last photo as we exited the terminal. We could see Thomas on the other side looking at us with curiosity. Elle completed our travel TicToc and we made our way through to collect our luggage.
By Elle ~ Once we got to the airport we checked in. We said our goodbyes to David and went to security. They thought my blocks were bad and the man felt them but then another woman said “those need to go through X ray” but the guy butted in and said “there solid” and everyone touched them. They gave us the okay to go and we moved on to our gate. Soon it was time to board so we got on our 6 hour flight and settled in. Sissy said her goodbyes and made me cry because I realized how much I was going to miss 4H. I slept for the whole thing and woke in perfect timing. When I woke I saw the sky we were just reaching the mainland. It was really pretty.
The next stop was Arizona we went through and started to settle in. Sissy set her bag on a mans seat and then started to squeal and hug someone. I was very confused they were so excited and happy. They talked for a while and soon enough I finally got the answer sissy told me this was her “mama joy”. Me still having no clue who the heck this “mama joy was just did my own thing. I looked through my pictures and occupied myself. Soon I could finally talk to ema and she told me the story. I did tic tok and took lots of pictures and soon it was time for our landing. Now we were in Chicago and we had lots of time so we went pee and went to this restaurant Ema had told me about many times. She told me she used to go here when she was on her way to Europe and she knew a waitress named Selam which means peace. She wanted to know if she still worked there. Turns out she still did but she was on break they offered to call her in but sissy said “no don’t do that we’ll walk around. So we started looking around. We found this beautiful dress that sissy said she would wear to London. We kept going and went to this gem shop. The shop had heart shaped gems and all sorts of cool things. The woman working there said she wished her daughter were like me and would dress in the way I do. Sissy and her talked for a while and sissy showed them my Halloween costume. Soon we decided we would come back but after we ate. We went back and Selam still wasn’t there but we decided to eat. We ordered our pizza and they decided to call in Selam. Selam came and showed us her baby and such and sissy had a quick conversation with her before we got our food. We ate it it was so good. Sissy said our goodbyes and we went to our gate. We couldnt go back to the gem shop because it was too late and we had no more time. When we got there this woman said “she looks like she could be on America’s got talent” and another man said “that’s what I said but she just looked at me like I was crazy”. And he had said that on the last flight but he said “hey she was on America’s got talent”. We got on our flight and I slept through it and soon enough we were in Flint Mi. I finished my tic tok and we got in the car.
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