• Things I did this week:
• Woke up at 3.30 on Monday morning, against all my teenage instincts.
• Rolled out of the driveway to SEA-TAC at exactly 4 am, a new family best.
• Spent our first 11 hours at an airport or on a plane
• Managed to get 6 people onto a plane which 20 minutes before takeoff had zero extra seats (miraculous!)
• Rode free the whole week in an a 15-passenger borrowed by church friends
• Crashed at my beautiful and talented, lovely and charming Aunt Jamey Knipps’ house for the week.
• Hung out with cousins, had a ball
• Woke up at the torturous hour of 9 a.m. to go shopping with another cousin, also had a ball
• Went to the my grandmother’s viewing, on Thursday, cried my eyes out
• Learnt she was without a doubt a believer, but still cried my eyes out
• Went to the funeral Friday, cried more, but felt better
• Saw The Chronicles of Narnia!
• Celebrated Christmas Eve with bunches and bunches of relatives, some of whom I’d never met, most of whom were weird
• Saw the Denver zoo lights, more relatives, but no other animals besides that
• Threw up all over the exterior of my uncle’s car on Christmas Eve, in front of the capital of Colorado, in heavy traffic
• Spent a highly uncomfortable Christmas Eve night thinking about other things than sugar plum fairies and Santa
• Enjoyed Christmas morning with the Knipps
• Had a lovely Christmas dinner with my dad’s dad at my grandmother’s house. We rejoiced for the turkey who is still alive today and had spaghetti.
• Received a solar powered, scientific calculator and a 6oo page book about math, physics, and the order of the universe from my grandfather. Bring it on!
• Got to DIA this morning, ran into my mom’s mom who had been seeing other people off.
• Prayed that another rather large family I had spied also flying standby would get the seats if they needed it more than we.
• Missed the first flight completely, noticed the other family got on
• Kinda regretted my prayer, bet rebuked myself instantly
• Inventoried, sorted, and counted all 300+ of the flashcards I took to Colorado between flights in the concourse
• Thought about that movie The Terminal for the 15th time since our stay in SEA-TAC
• Got ten people onto the same plane, again at the last minute
• Arrived at SEA-TAC, where my dad complained of a blistering headache
• Squeezed 10 more people onto a rather tiny shuttle plane to Bellingham, noticed for the second time that that day that there wasn’t a single seat on the plane once we'd gotten on.
• Was asked by multiple people at the airport if we were, in fact, the Alberts, and were told unlikely it was that we all made it
• Rode a taxi home for the first time in my life, decided I was glad to own a bus schedule and 50 cents, or at least a bike
• Found 3 pizzas in the fridge, the laundry done and the house cleaned. Good old Renate!
• Got the call that my uncle at whose house we were staying just came down with strep throat, which had been preceded by a blistering headache.
• Decided not to kiss my dad goodnight.
• Thanked God for a safe trip, and all the little miracles along the way