Love Story

…and we’re off…again! East Africa bound.

First stop is the Santa Maria Airport to wait for the airport shuttle van to drop us off in LA. It’s good to start slow and finish strong. By slow, I mean our little airport is very sleepy, with few flights in or out so there’s very little going on. It’s all quite casual as the occasional person drifts in or out of the sliding doors into the terminal. Actually, anything or anyone that moves immediately attracts attention amidst the stillness! I was sitting on a cold cement bench with our bags piled laying all around, when a Honda van pulled up alongside the curb some distance down from me. I couldn’t help staring just to break up the boredom if nothing else. A lady in her late sixties jumped out and walked to the back of the van. At the same time, a man, presumably her husband, got out of the driver’s side to join her as the back door slowly lifted open. He lifted out her ginormous suitcase and set it on the curb…and that’s when the magic happened.

So many times I’ve seen people being dropped off at the airport and it’s a quick good-bye, hasta, see ya and a peck on the cheek. Not so with this couple. They stepped to the curb and the wife with backpack slung over her shoulder reached up with both arms and longingly embraced her husband, who did the same. They just clung to each other – for a very long time. Then she held his face in both of her hands and they kissed and kissed – again for a very long time. Finally, she turned to her suitcase, lifted the handle and started for the airport doors. The husband climbed slowly and reluctantly back into the van glancing back at her every few steps. Just when I thought the scene had ended, the wife turned from the sliding doors, walked all the way back to the curb and stood waving as her husband slowly drove away.

I couldn’t help but wonder who or what called to the wife that she must say good-bye today. When we leave for Africa…every time…it’s exciting, thrilling…even magical, too! Africa calls and we go; we have to! Why? Because we can’t not go!!! We just have to! There are people to see, places to go. Assignments to carry out. But, every time, every single time, I cry when we leave. Because I love. I love my kids, my grandkids, my spiritual communities. Each good-bye brings a tear; a longing to express everything that my heart feels. So, like the wife, we get to take a journey today to someone and something that also fills our hearts. We have come to know that Love simply is, and that nothing, no nothing separates it. No height or depth, or distance or time. It just is. So, dear ones, be loved today as we truly love you.