London Flights

Saying goodbye is never easy. But when 9 very special people pray over you and embrace you with tear-filled eyes at the airport, the goodbyes are actually painful. There were moments on that Minneapolis-Chicago flight that I choked over flashback memories of the people I love, of the people I have left behind.

We were early to Chicago which was good, since I only had 50 minutes before my London flight took off. Unfortunately we had to sit in active taxi space for over 40 minutes waiting for a gate to open up. Upon deplaning at concourse B, I checked the departure monitors. My flight to London: concourse C, status: boarding! I've never run so fast. Yet another reason I prefer to pack light in case of events such as these. But as light as I packed, my backpack slowed me down. I recalled the story my parents had just reminded me of less than two hours before. They had to do this with their Europe connection when they came to visit me in Liberia. And here I was, running through Chicago O'Hare just like them.

At the top of the escalator my gate was the one straight ahead. The boarding door was closed but an agent called me by name. "Are you Jonathan?"

"YES!" I panted. They checked my ticket and passport and opened the door. I coughed for the first hour of the flight. But I had made it. My checked bag had arrived ahead of me on an earlier flight, so me and all of my things arrived in London safe and sound. Travel mercies, as Rita Arpon and Mary Anne Bull say, but with a hint of adventure, humor, and irony.