Day 35

Wednesday

Time to head home! It was a hard day for me, for sure. Got up early to go to the CDIs with everyone so that we could go straight to the airport from there. It was nice to get to say goodbye to all of them... although I forgot to say goodbye one last time to the Wisconsin group who stayed back and went to the hospital. But, they got set up and then I said my goodbyes to everyone at the CDI. Then Iris & Ester came to see me off at the airport. Tomas had called to explain to me that my flight in Santa Cruz went to a different airport, but he would meet us at the airport. I was surprised that he was coming, but excited to get to say goodbye to them!

On the drive to the airport, Iris told me that they had a surprise for me. But then she stopped and said she wouldn't tell me anymore. I definitely fought tears on the ride there and tried to avoid thinking about leaving so we could have some good pictures. :-) We got there and had over an hour to spare, so we wandered around a bit after I got my ticket. We went over to the gift shop and I got a couple things to snack on and some gum for Ester. Tomas called and was unable to get a taxi--it never came. So Iris told me that they had gotten some of my pictures (I left some on their computer for them) and put them in some sort of collage or something for me, as a gift. Just knowing that they had been so thoughtful was so meaningful to me!

When we realized that I needed to go through security to make sure I was ready in time, we took a picture together. I gave them both hugs and Iris sent me off with a Bible verse, which I confess, I only understood half of because I was so distracted by the fact that I was leaving and I would miss their family so very much. I gave Ester a hug and told her I would miss her a lot and she responded "Me too." (in her adorable 4 year old Spanish, of course).

I made it through security and as I stood in line waiting to have my ticket checked and heading onto the plane to find my seat, the tears came little by little...one by one. They continued streaming down and I gave up fighting it. They came pretty uncontrollably anyway. I'm pretty sure the little girl next to me wondered what the heck was wrong with the white girl who kept crying. haha I decided to sleep on the flight so I didn't have to think about how much I would miss their family. Even as I write this, it brings tears to my eyes. That was a really hard day.

I feel like everything that I did that day after that flight deserves a separate post because it is entirely different. So this is the end...for now.