Viaje

It's been quite a while since I blogged but no better time to start again than during a 5 hour layover in Canada! :) I just finished the first leg of my long trip to Spain after what was one busy and crazy week of packing, goodbyes, and lots of love from my family and friends. I have to admit that I'm a bit of a procrastinater and earlier in the week would rather watch Days of Our Lives with Marita than pack. And I haven't watched that show in ages! Between that and all of the lunches, dinners, and happy hours with my family and friends, I was pushing it to the wire with the packing that I needed to get done. One thing that these past two weeks have really shown me is that I have so many people in my life that truly care about me and that I'm so blessed to have in my life. Thank you to every single one of you for the words of encouragement, the time to listen to me when I got overwhelmed with all of the feelings of goodbye, helping me with various aspects of my life that need "babysitting" while I'm gone (like my doggie), and excitement about my upcoming adventure! I'm so incredibly fortunate and blessed.

Yesterday was probably the craziest day since it was the last day that I had to get anything done. Between running to the tech center, downtown, Brighton, back home, and downtown again, I was able to fit it all in. Then I stayed up until about 2AM packing my suitcases and re-packing them when everything wouldn't fit, as well as packing up my car for when my mom takes it to the Valley. The excitement and stress made it difficult to sleep and so when I was up at 5AM doing more of the same, I think Aaron was a little confused as to why I beat him up when he usually leaves for work before any of us even think about waking up. We made it on the road to the airport only 10 minutes late, which was okay because I had targeted to leave 15 minutes early since "Valdez Time" will get you every time! (A little trick I learned from my ever always prepared sister, Julia) We made it to the airport with plenty of time for me to go through the special security screening that I got "randomly chosen" for. The lady was half way through her "extra security screening" and in the process knowing my body better than I do before her supervisor told ther that I only needed the "regular patdown" instead of whatever it was that she was doing. It made me feel like I needed a shower! But not nearly as bad as when we had to go through security to get into a club in Puerto Rico several years ago!!

The flight was good and even better due to a package that I was instructed by my sister Julia to not open until on the plane and in the air. To my surprise, there was a small photo album of me and my family from past and present! I immediately started crying and I'm not sure what scared the man next to me more, me crying or the photo of my two sisters and I as children in a bathtub together in the photo album!! Haha! It was awesome. With the album was a card with encouraging words from everyone including my long lost sister Elisa who is currently M.I.A. in Ohio, and a tabloid magazine to "distract me" on the plane (which is one of my favorite guilty pleasures). I didn't sleep so now I feel like a zombie but I'm telling myself this will help me sleep on the plane to Madrid and adjust to their time better. After arriving in Toronto, a nice Canadian customs agent gave me the option of going to the "public area" before going to the international terminal in case I needed to smoke. :) My friend Meachie thinks I will come back from Europe a smoker so this made me chuckle. I got a terrible chicken sandwich from someplace called Coyote Jacks. I don't know what time it is here and I better find out but seeing as how I have several hours before my flight, I figure I'm okay. I was happy to find free WiFi, it's amazing how connected the world is!

I'm so excited about the possibilities that my trip to Spain brings! Even if it is just the possibility to live in Spain again for a while and have friends and family come visit. My cousin Tracie is already in Spain for July and August in Granada, and then I have a friend coming to visit in September and another in October. And, the possibility of my aunt and uncle (and hopefuly their two kids) coming for Thanksgiving in November. I don't think that it has hit me yet that it's finally here after waiting so long. Maybe once I get some sleep, I can wrap my head around it. Looking forward to what's next-
Steph