Our traveling day started out with 3 hours of sleep the night before (due to us choosing to spend time visiting with friends and avoiding packing!) and waking up to no electricity. We managed to gather our things with flashlights and headlamps and we were on our way to Atlanta's international airport.
Our flight was delayed out of Atlanta by an hour and when we landed in Miami, we found out that our flight to St. Kitts was delayed as well. Megumi was a trooper despite her lack of sleep. We actually almost missed the flight to St. Kitts. Although we checked the departure monitor numerous times, they started boarding way ahead of schedule so we were the last ones to get on! As we frantically tried to rush on to the airplane, the flight attendant took our traveling stroller to "gate check".
Once we landed to St. Kitts, the humidity hits us and we are immediately covered in sweat. As we descend the stairs, I ask one of the worker where I should pick up my gate checked stroller. She instructs me to go to the baggage claim to pick it up. It takes us about an hour to go through immigration due to the students coming back on the island from their break. The immigration officer is trying to move people to a different line to make it more efficient and asks our family to move. Megumi is hungry, tired and is done "standing in line". As she is fussing in my arms, a girl walks up from behind us and totally cuts in front of us to talk to her friends. I am frustrated. In my head, I am thinking "Can't you see that I have a toddler who's been traveling for over 12 hours and is ready to be in bed? How dare you cut in front of us?" I am trying to be patient but I am tired, sweaty and can feel myself getting cranky.
We finally go through the immigration and go downstairs to baggage claim. Thank goodness I could spot our suitcases and bags! While I sit down on the bench with Meg and wait for Mike to grab our bags, I scan around the airport trying to locate our stroller. It is no where to be found. We have all our bags except for the gate checked stroller. Mike speaks to several workers but they don't really know what to tell him. We finally talk to the customs' officer and she instructs us to go outside and around to the American airline ticket counter. We're contemplating moving all the bags ourselves, but we end up paying someone to help us since one of us has to carry Meg making it impossible for us to carry our bags. The worker piles on the suitcases and bags (5 items total) on the dolley. We manage to walk outside 20 feet then the pile falls down scattering our suitcases and bags on the ground. He doesn't want to repile the luggage and help us take them inside to where the ticketing counter is, so I end up sitting on the curve side outside of the airport with our pile of luggage while Mike runs in. I wait and wait. Megumi is wanting to run around but it's too dangerous with cars driving by. So I sing song after song to keep her entertained. Then Megumi poops. Great timing right? While I am contemplating how I'm going to change her diaper with our pile of luggage, Mike comes back. He tells me we need to move everything inside since it's going to be "a while". We move our suitcases and bags then while Mike waits I go change Megumi in the bathroom. Of course, there's no changing table. So I change her diaper on the sink counter. Mike proceed to wait inline while I watch Meg run back and forth inside the little airport lobby. She is so sweaty she looks like she just walked out of the shower.
Around this time, a woman from the airline walks up to me and says, "I'm so glad I spoke with your husband. I have an autistic child and he's been to every dentist in town except to your husband. So far, he can't get any dental work done since he ends up trying to run away. But I'm going to try going to your huband and see if he can help us." I tell her, "Please give my husband a try. That would be wonderful if we can help your son!". She walks away smiling. I look over at Mike who is still standing in front of the counter and we make eye contact. We exchange a smile.
There is another couple waiting in line and Mike finds out that they are here for vacation but none of their suitcases made it. They only have the clothes they are wearing. We share how that happened to us when we went to Brazil and how a wonderful family let us borrow some clothes while we waited for our luggage to arrive. So Mike gives them his business card and write his cell phone number on the back. I tell them, "Please give us a call if we can be of any help. We live just up the street from the Mariott. If you need to come do laundry or borrow a shirt, we'd be happy to help. We know what it's like to be traveling and not have your clothes!" We shake hands and before walking away the couple says, "This is the first nice thing anybody has done for us today. Thank you so much!"
By the time we walk out of the airport it is 10pm. Two hours had passed since we had landed in St. Kitts. But somehow our attitudes has changed since our two little encounters. We somehow feel we were meant to be waiting at the airport so that we could meet those people.
When we first walked out of the airport, there were many taxis waiting in line. That is not the case now. There is only one taxi left for us to get in. On our short five minute drive home, we find out that our lady taxi driver is the mother of the guy who dropped us off at the airport at the beginning of our trip. She says, "what a fate!" Mike and I know from our discussion with the son that his family is not very supportive of him going to a Seventh-day Adventist Church. Somehow we feel once again that God had planned for us to be in her taxi car so that we can share what we are doing here on the island and how we appreciated his son's kindness to drop us off at the airport. I ask her for her number in case we need a taxi service in the future. We exchange a hug and I feel like God has given us an opportunity to connect with someone once again.
Although it was a long day of traveling filled with unexpected "bumps", Mike and I agreed that our evening was filled with God moments and we felt blessed! I know that these encounters seem insignificant to some. But to us, it felt like it was meant to be. Next time I face a frustrating situation, I need to breath and take a moment to remind myself that perhaps God is giving me an opportunity to be a part of answering a prayer in somebody else's life!
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