Inclement weather

Please excuse the lull in posts over the last week. I was in Gainesville visiting Amber. We had a really nice time, and I enjoyed getting to be with her in person instead of on the phone. Anyone with distance dating or engagement experience can tell you that it can be exhausting trying to have something to say all the time. The sweetest moments Amber and I have shared together have been silent, and there is something about silence on the phone that just doesn't work.

The trip was not without incident. I left my apartment at 4am Friday and headed to the subway. Plodding down empty, snow-covered streets with Target bags over my shoes and a half-empty suitcase, I made my way to the Nostrand Avenue station to catch the A to JFK airport. We were about 20 hours in to what the airport newscasters called a "snowicane," and more than 12 inches had fallen already. It's fun walking in the snow before anyone else, although I ended up having to walk down the street because the sidewalks were a disaster. After about an hour I made it to the airport and checked in. When I arrived, the kiosk that replaced so many jobs told me that it was too late to check a bag. I arrived an hour early and found this odd, but I had not planned to check a bag so it wasn't a problem. When I got to the gate and finally made it on the plane, I was relieved to see that the flight was, in fact, scheduled to depart on time. An hour passed, and just as I was getting irritated the captain came on the speaker and informed us that they were still putting bags on the plane. Half of me immediately thought back to that kiosk telling me I couldn't check anything. I would have been so mad. The other more compassionate half looked at the men outside with empathy. I could not imagine working in what I had just walked through, much less trying to accomplish the task of getting an airplane ready to take off in such weather. So I sat patiently for another hour and imagined what the sideways snowfall was doing to everyone who had planned to wake up and do something that day. As the sun came up, the outlook remained bleak. Glancing out the window was like looking into a gloomy dream; I almost couldn't believe all this was happening. Within another half hour, they had de-iced the plane and gotten us airborne. I later found out that few other aircraft made it out that day. Atlanta was a nightmare, as usual, but my New York legs carried me from the end of Concourse A to the end of Concourse D in 12 minutes, just in time to see them close the doors and tell me I could not board. A short scuffle with the Delta staff in Atlanta later, I arrived to see my fiancee.

Gainesville was sunny and warm, and my smiling bride-to-be waited for me at its regional airport. I could not have asked for more. What I didn't expect was a blizzard in Atlanta to delay my return flight. But I welcomed another day in Gainesville with Amber, and I was delighted to fly directly to New York from Orlando the next day in first class. Thanks, Delta. Maybe we'll give you another chance.

Now, it is back to the grind and definitely down to wire. Every day that passes is another notch on the belt tightening around our plans to move here. I am looking forward to seeing the Lord's provision this week, and to time with friends in Atlantic City this weekend.