The first person I met was at the Buffalo airport - he was one of the staff members of United Airways who gave me my plane ticket. I had asked him if my seats had been assigned for my LA - Sydney flight and if I had a window seat (which I hoped for). He said I had an aisle, which was fine by me. When I gave him my baggage I was prepared to pay extra because it was clearly over 50 lbs, but he took it, labelled it "Heavy" and didn't charge me extra. I had noticed he was taking a while processing my tickets, but I didnt think much of it, until I got on the plane. My first flight was from Buffalo to Chicago and when I went to put my carry-on baggage in the overhead compartment I noticed it said "Reserved for Economy Plus" ... I thought "Oh, that's not me, I better find where I can put it"....but then I looked down at my seat and realized the man had upgraded my seat from Economy to Economy Plus and put me on a window seat! What a beautiful man! It was the most pleasant flight I have ever had and I thoroughly enjoyed all the leg room. I hope he is blessed two-fold for what he did. It's amazing what a good deed can do, and it inspires me to do the same, especially for someone who can't pay me back.
When I boarded my flight from Chicago to LA I noticed he had done the same thing, he had upgraded me again, to another window seat to boot! That's when I met the second person, a happy-go-lucky girl named Amy who packed up her life in Chicago and was moving to Syndey! What an exciting adventure! She was very talkative which was nice, and when she put on a movie on her laptop she even put the subtitles on so I could watch! I always am anxious once I land in LA, it is such a big airport and often you have to take a shuttle to your next gate and often there is not much time in between flights --- however, this time we landed in one gate, and boarded in one two gates over! Such a relief!
When I boarded the plane in LA, I was seated next to an elderly Scottish lady named Maggie from Cobden, ON. She was one of those people that instantely feel like your grandmother - so gentle and lovely. She was also flying to Melbourne, to see her brother whom she hasn't seen in over 30 years and her sister-in-law whom she hasn't seen in 49 years! Talk about a reunion! She was seated next to the window and I was in the aisle and even though the plane was full, no one was seated in between us! That rarely happens! We were thrilled because it meant we could sleep with legs spralled out and either of us could lay down if we wished. I can't tell you how nice it was to have leg room on that 14 hour flight! She was a great person to chat with, we talked about anything and everything and it made the flight so so pleasant. Even when we stopped over in Sydney she bought me a coffee and we went shopping around the airport! It's meeting people like her that make travelling long distances so wonderful.
I found God's favour stamped all over this trip and I pray He blesses Amy and Maggie on their journeys.
This is the third time I've flown to Melbourne and even still I get butterflies going through the arrival gates knowing that my love is waiting for me! How many people can say they have their first kiss over and over again?! ......You know what? It gets better and better every time! There's nothing like an airport kiss and embrace, is the most spectacular thing! I think I might leave the country more often ;) Even though Damien and I were only apart for just over a week, it still felt like eternity!
They say absence makes the heart grow fonder and I know first hand that that is true! When I walked into our house my wonderful guy had fresh flowers in every room, he had cleaned the house so well it was sparkling, he had his famous Spaghetti Bolognese sauce pre made and ready to go so I didn't have to cook dinner and he had three presents on the bed waiting for me! He had bought me a book I had been wanting to get, a brand new pair of shoes that I had bought, but got water damaged, and my wedding dress which we conveniently purchased from his store. He also had a surprise getaway planned for the afternoon!.........I am married to one heck of an amazing guy!!
Since I was awake and rested from ym flight we jumped in the car and took off to our mystery destination. He had heard me talking a while back about this flower shop called Prunella I read about in my Country Style magazine in the small town of Kyneton, an hour north of the city and how I wanted to take a day trip up there - so that's where he took me!
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| Photo: Country Style |
The town was cute and full of quaint boutiques, but somehow everything was closed! Wednesdays are their days off! Ahh well!
I love taking roadtrips with Damien, we both are in our element, especially when we venture out to the country. Our souls open up in the open spaces and we fall even deeper in love. Since everything was closed, we drove up to their botanical gardens. That's one thing that is so wonderful about Melbourne and surrouding area, is that they have so many beautiful botanical gardens to explore and they are mesmerizing. It was a drizzly, cloudy day but we didn't mind. We grabbed out thermos full of coffee and walked hand in hand along the path.
I love days like this.
Below are some pictures of what their gardens are like.
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| All photos: Life in Oz |
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Damien & his siblings never had snow when they were kids, so they used to have snowball fights with these flowers! It`s actually called a Snowball tree!
All in all it was an amazing welcome home! There have been and abundance of blessings in the past few weeks and I am so grateful for everything God has given me.
