As we settled into our seats AGAIN, I was really surprised that Belane was smiling. An airplane seat was the last place I wanted to be at that point, but she was great. She checked out her new set of headphones, we made a trip to the bathroom the second the seatbelt lights went off, and we ordered a bunch of snackboxes from the “pay to eat” service on United.

After that she collapsed in my lap, and slept soundly for the last two hours of the flight (for her it was the middle of the night on Ethiopia time). When we landed I kept waiting for the noise and commotion to wake her up, but it didn’t, and I carried her limp body off the plane with the rest of our stuff while she continued to sleep soundly.

We had a good three hours until our next flight, so I walked slowly to the gate where our connection would leave from. I found the right place and then collapsed in a chair. It felt so good to put those bags down! Belane laid on my chest and slept for almost two more hours, and then at that point I woke her up so we could change our clothes and get something to eat and drink.

As good as it felt to wash our faces and put on fresh clothes (long overdue!), I nearly shed tears of pure joy when I took my first sip of Dr. Pepper in a giant cup with ICE and a straw. Belane picked a banana, which she ate, and we went back to the gate.

Poor Belane was really tired and sort of “out of it”. You could tell it was the middle of the night for her, and she just wanted to sleep. Our last flight was only just over an hour, and as soon as we sat down again, she curled up and went back to sleep. I closed my eyes too, and it seemed like just minutes later, we were landing in Salt Lake City.

I had cried so many tears in anticipation of really being HOME, but in that moment I was so tired that all I could do was smile. I scooped up Belane (the lovely stewardess had given us the bulkhead seats, so we were the first ones off the plane) and this time she did wake up. We made our way through a familiar airport, and as I turned the corner, I could see my Shane and my Ryan waiting for us. Then I saw Josh, and he gave a frantic wave to let me know he saw us coming.


Continued...