Wednesday, August 6th was the big day. Listi's final hours with us crept up immensely fast, the vacation flew by far too quickly, like always. When she opened her letter on June 7th, we thought "wow, there is so much time!" Then there I was, watching her as she slept thinking about how truly long a year and a half was. (Note, this was not as creepy as it sounds!)
It was past time for her to wake up according to her missionary schedule, but I felt compelled to let her sleep in for this last day. So finally around 8:30 I woke her up from her slumber. We got in touch with Mama, who was sleeping in a room on another floor. She met us upstairs and we packed up everything. At 9 o'clock I thought 'well 4 more hours to go until...'
I couldn't even hardly think it. It was like anticipating taking caster oil, not worth the effort of worrying about because it was essential. Until then I had tried to be her champion, supporting a mission through everything but it became so visceral. About a month after we were married I told Graham that Listi and I wouldn't ever be close, the two of us were far too different, which has caused more arguments than I could count. But, as we dwindled down to hours left together, I began to think how wrong I was. My sister had become one of my closest companions, only for her to be whisked away as soon it happened.
We went to IHOP, Listi's favorite, for a proper send off meal, knowing she wouldn't eat a bite at the MTC that day. She still hardly ate a thing, which was to be expected since she has began to show signs of nervousness.
Next we dropped by Walmart to pick up last minute items, mostly makeup, snacks for Listi's stay, surprise gifts for everyone at home and a few things forgotten until the last minute. After spending more than we planned (doesn't that always happen on trips?), we drove back to Shannon's home, since she volunteered to drive us to Provo and the airport. In her driveway, I chopped away the last of her rat's tail. She knew I wouldn't let her get away with it!
As we drove the 45 minutes to Provo, I became more and more nervous, Listi was as well, though she certainly fought to keep us from thinking that. She read her scriptures, I tried to take more footage for my video of our trip, Mama spoke to Shannon about everything.
Eventually, we saw the Provo Temple, we pulled to the side of the road so we could photograph it. Our driver said "Oops! Car trouble (wink, wink). No, I better stop before I jinx myself."
Meanwhile I was searching in vain for the grand rectangular Missionary Training Center sign, absolutely wanting a picture next to it! Since we couldn't see it, we pulled upwards towards the actual MTC to inquire about it. "No we haven't had that sign in about two years! But you can pull up to the left." What?!? She wasn't supposed to be there until 1:15, it was only 1:02! That was 13 minutes too early!!!
Listi was complacent, not exuding any kind of emotion. Surprisingly, mama or myself didn't have tears flowing but I think we were all dreading the next few minutes. Sweet young missionaries were all scurrying inside with lots of luggage, happy and nervous. There were tons of missionaries, so we eventually figured out that half were escorts to the newbies! We joked about the Dork Dot, a orange sticker that was to be put on the name tag.
As we pulled to a stop there was a smiley brunette sister missionary waiting to assist. Not to be dramatic, but my heart was pounding thinking "this is it, this is it!" So we unloaded her bags, Mama asked if we had any time and we were told we had 3 minutes with her. So I snuck in a huge bag of snacks I'd secretly bought with a note into her biggest suitcase. Mama and I asked for a picture, then we both went in for a hug. "I love you!," was all I could say before my voice caught and I knew I would have to quit speaking. She turned around, without a smile or a frown, and rolled away without looking back.
Gone in the blink of an eye, a year and a half before we are reunited.
Before we had left the parking lot, my phone began to ring. Daddy! I felt plumb sick to my stomach thinking that he had wanted to speak to her and missed his chance. But he was totally fine, he had caught her earlier in the day and was just checking in. I figured if he had spoken to her it might have done more harm than good, definitely intensifying her anxiety.
So away we left towards the Salt Lake Airport, our adventure practically over. Rain began to come down in heavy sheets, Shannon flipped on the windshield wipers and swiftly as they came on, one side broke off and began to scratch the windshield. Jinxing? We certainly thought so. But through the rain we went, unable to use the wipers but surviving the trip :)
After being a life saver and such a sweetheart, we parted from Shannon. We had 3 hours before our flight and we wanted to rest, since I never can on a plane anyway. Wouldn't you know that as we walked in there were several groups of families holding up "Returned with Honor," "Welcome Home Sister/Elder" or "We love you!" Mama and I could not resist watching the joy family and friends felt as they embraced a missionary home. Yep, I already imagined us sharing that moment with Listi, despite dropping her off 2 hours prior.
Mama and I grabbed lunch at the food court, I insisted she try Cafe Rio, bought a few bags of dark chocolate covered pomegranates and waited on our flight. We flew Delta coming home, which was a first, and I was so dang impressed! There was free music, a screen with games and comfy chairs! No person sat next to us, though we had a spare seat, so we had a storage chair for all of our mess. It was literally phenomenal because we were both so tired and needed some down time. At one point I said, "can you believe we jut left Listi on the other side of the country?" And Mama replied, "hush I can't even think about that!"
Flying to Atlanta was a breeze! We relaxed and giggled and took pictures of the glorious mountain range. As we started to circle in, I became so stressed. It was nearing midnight, since we jumped ahead a few time zones, and things on the airport were shutting down. My biggest concern lied in the fact that we only had about 37 minutes between landing and take off. All planes require check in and loading but Atlanta is a humongous airport that often requires the use of the subway to get to and fro. As quickly as we could we got off the plane, we darted towards the subway and watched as the minutes ticked down. We became those people I had gawked at before, the two of us sprinted to our spot. We had 15 minutes til take off but we had just reached out terminal. Imagine! But luckily we were B5, right up front. Until we realized the numbers were listed from greatest to least, meaning our terminal was one of the farthest down, past all greater numbers and a food court. A tear could have easily escaped my eye at this point! So we hustled towards the end, Mama gasping for a minute to rest, when the heavens opened and a choir of cherub cheeked angels sang. "Do you need a lift?" A Delta worker in a little luggage cart asked. "Yes! Thank you!" we wheezed. Our little friend, who we helped on the Subway, also headed to JAX, bummed a ride off of us and didn't leave us alone until we ran away from him in the next airport.
Graham picked us up at 12:13 precisely with a bouquet of flowers for me and a single flower for his Mother in Law (Funny story: so he buys the flowers early, around 8, and thinks he wants to keep them hydrated. In they go to a vase of water, where he returned to see all of the stems broken off! Curse you cheap Publix daisies). We got in the car and rushed home so I could be prepared to work the next morning.
Well that's it. Our fantastic trip to SLC, taking Listi to the Missionary Training Center and having a completely blast. I'm sad to end this chapter, it was a trip I will eternally be grateful that I went on, just so jam packed with exciting memories. I will be back, without question. It was so fun and so short that I can't think of doing anything else. :)
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