We're in Panama City! I am currently looking out the window in the terminal outside our gate and looking out at the beautiful lightly clouded sky. It's very warm out and it only grows warmer the closer we get to our destination! We arrived here about an hour or so ago and have a 7 hour wait until our final flight to Asuncion, Paraguay takes off! After that final 7 hour flight, we will be touching ground in one of my favorite places to be. The excitement is finally starting to catch up to me and I'm bubbling inside at the thought of seeing so many loved ones again.
I'm not going to sugarcoat it. Flying has not been a highlight of the trip for me. My favorite part is when I get to walk off the plane and place two feet onto the ground where they belong! The only highlights I can think of are the beautiful pictures I've been able to take and the laughs I get to have with Mother while flying. My take on flying is that people should only fly if they have the capability to do so on their own. Of course, me being a girl who travels quite often, I must toss aside this belief I have and get onto that plane every time I'm told to. Or I'll never get there!
Running through airports has Mother and I almost ripping our hair out! So much continuous back and forth, especially in LA. I feel as though I am definitely getting a good workout in. Having to bring our carry on luggage with us all over the place has me doing heavy lifting. Traveling is a work out. Never believe it to be otherwise. We have lasted through much frustration and stress and at this time, I could really go for some siesta time!
The first flight almost drove me to the nuthouse! But looking back now, I'm kind of chuckling to myself. I've faced the fact that I'm a little crazier while flying and much more easily irritated. The subject of my irritation happened to be the man I was seated next to. He ordered food. Now I know ordering food is a regular occurrence. People must eat to live and especially to stay properly nourished on the flight. However, it was not his eating particularly that bothered me. It was the overdone chewing that persisted throughout the next two hours and a bit. Sometimes when the noise would die down, I would think to myself "Oh thank you! THANK YOU!" and almost cry sweet tears of joy. But my thank you's were all for naught, for before a full three minutes could pass, he would be right back at it, whether he had something in his mouth or not.
I, of course being myself, made some comments on how I would love to throw him off the plane. Not in a language he could understand of course, but in the language Mother and I normally speak when we are in one another's company in public: German. I have no idea how on earth I survived that flight with the continuous irritation of chewing for two hours, but if it has taught me one thing, it is that if I can withstand this, I can withstand anything that comes my way on this wonderful new adventure.
TTFN!
~ Naomi C.
