At the Airport

Dave Bell, with Life Missions, had done his best to book coordinating flights for all of our team members. We were all flying in from different parts of the country, converging on Detroit, Michigan. From there, the plan was to fly together to Amsterdam, then on to Nairobi.

Two other teen-age girls, Kari and Brie, were scheduled to fly out of Appleton with Val and me.

We got to the airport at the prescribed two hours prior to departure. Something was messed up in the computer and it took the gal working the counter a while to figure it out, but finally we were able to check in.

The airport in Appleton is not very big, by most airport standards. It has eight gates and five have skyways that take you right to the plane without going outside. That is twice as big as Central Wisconsin Airport, south of Wausau. The airport in Rhinelander, well, do you even call it a gate when everyone walks out the same one door, across the tarmac and into their plane, which is probably going to seat less than 20 passengers?

The time came to say goodbye to my husband Himey. He was always such a support to me, always believing in me, always backing me in my crazy plans and ideas. We hugged and I teared up. Val, well, she was still weeping from the breakup with her boyfriend. We went through security and to our gate.

One of the girls who was going to be flying with us finally arrived. Kari was an absolute doll. She was from Sheboygan, had just graduated from high school that spring and was going to be starting college in La Crosse in the fall. She had beautiful red hair and a big, lovable smile.

I told Kari about Val’s breakup, and she understood. She had been dumped by a boyfriend recently too and assured me that she would be there for Val.

Time came to board the plane. Brie, the other girl who was supposed to fly with us, hadn’t shown up. I didn’t know if there had been a last minute change in planes, but as we settled into the plane, there wasn’t much I could do about it.