Stranded in Seattle

By Rachel

Wednesday, August 11th

Hola hola. Rachel here.

Have you missed me recently? It's been a while. And today was a big day because it is the first time since May 26th that I got to see my family in person (well except Taylor who is still a missionary). I have been serving as a Spanish-speaking missionary for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints for the past 18 months in northwestern Washington and it has been absolutely incredible! However. My time is up and on Monday I am headed to the airport to see my family! (Or I tried to and then they got stuck and now it's Wednesday and I finally do get to see them.)

I woke up in Seattle. I had been staying with Slade, a family friend who I will be forever grateful to for picking me up as I was stranded in Seattle. In the morning, I decided to go for a run since I knew the area really well since I had spent 6 months of my mission there. My phone didn't have a SIM card, so it only worked being connected to internet, but I wasn't concerned. Or I wasn't for the first bit and then as I headed back up capital hill, I realized I had no idea what apartment Slade was in or what street it was on. And I couldn't contact anyone or look up the apartment. I wandered around and finally found my way to a public library thinking they would have internet. Well, they were closed, but some kind guy dropping off books turned on his hotspot and I was able to connect to his internet and find my way back.

Slade dropped me off at the airport and my journey to Alaska was pretty uneventful except for the kid across the aisle from me throwing up when we landed. My flight had been a little slow, so I thought my family had beat me there and would be waiting for me at the gate. Well, they weren't. There was a flight at the gate next to me from Chicago that started unloading, so I waited for them. And waited and waited. And then everyone was off the flight and I learned that my parents were on a flight that ended up sitting on the runway for almost 1.5 hours waiting for their gate to unload.

Finally, by the middle of the night, I finally saw them. And it was so happy. I had missed them. Christian got way tall!! Not going to lie, I got a little teary as I saw them again. I have imagined what it would be like to see them for a long time and I was so excited to finally be able to see them. It was lovely.

So after all the airport adventures, we are here in Alaska!! Tired and worn out, but here and all together. Por fin!!