June 7-July 26. Those dates were seared into my mind from the moment Aliza said them to me. The dates that she would be working on a mission team at camps this summer. I was genuinely so excited for her. This was clearly the next natural step for her. She is clearly gifted and called to this ministry to middle and high schoolers. And for the month before she left, I laid awake several hours most nights just wondering and dreading how it was going to feel to have one of my children away from home for 8 weeks.
June 7 came. Aliza left and I found out that I was really ok. I slept through the night. I didn't worry about her or feel anxious. Sure, she was always in the back of my thoughts and I know I talked about her more than some family and friends thought was necessary. Most days Aliza sent a text before she went to bed between 12:30 and 1:30am and I would read it after she had already gotten up in the morning at 6:30 and we talked on the phone around midnight almost every week.
Finally, for me, July 26 arrived. Aliza's flight was supposed to land in Salisbury at 10:15pm. I had some things planned to do to pass the time. Aliza got to the airport in Louisville plenty early for her 6:00 flight. She called and we talked until it was just about time for her to board. I started making supper and getting ready to track her flight. Just when I had the bacon and onions cooking for hamburger toppings, she called her Dad. The flight was delayed and delayed again and now it was scheduled to depart at 11:45pm. For the next hour or so, Jeremy searched flights and coached Aliza through talking to the agent, customer service, and rebooking a flight. For a little while, it looked like Aliza would need to spend the night in Louisville. We knew that there would be no flights coming into Salisbury. At the very last minute Jeremy found a flight leaving Louisville at 8pm with a layover in Charlotte and landing in Baltimore at 12:35am.
I really didn't care what time or where she landed. My heart was set on her sleeping in her bed that night. I shed a few tears. For how well I had done for 8 weeks being calm and cool, I did not want to lose it in the last 24 hours!
With a bit of divine intervention, Aliza got on that 8:00 flight right before boarding started. The gate for that flight was adjacent to the gate for her original flight.
God had other ideas and He is always faithful to let me know that life is not about me when I start thinking that maybe it should be. Aliza starts telling us about her experiences of the last 6 hours as we are driving. After doing a whole process of list of things she had never done before including, her first domestic flight, flying alone, calling customer service and booking a flight for herself, she was looking forward to a good nap on her first flight. She sat down and pretty quickly realized that the girl next to her (similar to Aliza's age) was clearly distressed. Aliza asked her if she was ok and the young lady said she was terrified of flying. Aliza reassured her and then asked if it would help if Aliza talked to her for the duration of the flight. The young lady said that would help a lot and so Aliza kept up a conversation, which included faith, for the hour long flight. Aliza prayed with the girl who was very thankful for the divine appointment of Aliza sitting next to her.
I was the mom feeling humbled just watching my daughter live in her calling, doing the things that she is best at.
On the next flight, Aliza fell asleep before the plane took off and woke up after it had landed in Baltimore.
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