Hawaii in 44 Days

Steve and I leave for Hawaii in 44 days. Although we have been fortunate to travel, this is really, kind of, a trip of a lifetime. I've been wanting to take Steve there for years. I was fortunate to go in 1982 when I was 10 years old. My family spent two weeks there and our grandparents paid for half of the trip and we spent one of those weeks with them in Maui. The other islands we visited were Oahu, Kauai, and the Big Island. I have very fond memories of that trip.

 Steve and I will be spending two weeks split between the Big Island and Kauai.

I've known for awhile I've been sorely out of shape. Before Win's and my trip to the Canadian Rockies last September I spent a couple of months with a personal trainer and that really got me ready for that trip. However, I stopped working out - except for fits and spurts - after that trip. I have tried to do some walking programs, but my left foot (the one I had major surgery on) gets too sore and too swollen after a few days.

 Last night we attended the Spoofhounds home opener football game. We sat pretty far down on the stands and I took a couple of walks to the concession stand. Between those and the walk to and from the car I realized I really am not in the physical condition I want to be in for our Hawaii trip.

I told Steve this and essentially made a covenant to work out on my bike every day. I also want to do some strength training and eat and drink better. So, today was the day I started.

A little before noon I rode my trainer for 10 minutes and a little while later I did five minutes of arm weights. I've also promised both of us I will not push myself. I do not want to give up or get injured. I feel better. I think I have a pinched nerve in my lower back and my right shoulder is really jacked up, but even those seem to feel better after a short workout. I did read recently that movement is better than RICE for chronic pain and I'm trying to embrace that.

So, here I go on this journey. I'm not sure if I'll lose weight, but I do hope I can gain muscle and stamina. I am optimistic. 

A Big Day

 

May 14th is a significant day in my life.

It's Steve's and my anniversary. Today - 29 years! We got married the day before we graduated from college. Most people react with shock when they learn we put that much stress on ourselves in one weekend. However, it made logical sense to us and we are both grateful for having these events coincide with each other. I grew up in Oklahoma City. Steve's family was living in Marshfield. We didn't want to get married while we were still in college and we knew if we waited to get married during the summer following graduation, regardless of where we got married, many of our friends would not be able to be there. So, getting married at the church on campus when most of our friends were still in town and our family would all be gathered for graduation made perfect sense. It was a wonderful weekend and even with my horrible memory, I have many special memories from our wedding day and weekend.

Mother's Day also sometimes falls on May 14th - or very close to it. The year we got married, Mother's Day was the same day as graduation. Because of this, I have so many warn and fuzzy feelings as I see pictures pop up on my timeline from years past wishing my mom a happy Mother's Day and remembering the celebrations we had with Steve's mom. Everything from our wedding/graduation/Mother's Day weekend gets tied in together and there is so much happiness for these times.

My best friend's (Anne Nelson Farmer) birthday is today. She was one of my bridesmaids. We still talk every week. I love getting to celebrate her and our friendship along with the other specialness of the day. Interestingly, Anne and Chris's anniversary is on Steve's birthday.

So, I love this day and this weekend. It really has all the feels and I am always reminded of how fortunate I am to have so much love - from my mom, from Steve, from Anne, and all of our friends and family who have shared these important milestones with us year after year.

Starting Anew

 While browsing around the internet this morning I decided to revisit my neglected blog. It's got some good memories - especially of my six weeks in Indonesia. My last post was from August 2020 and I believe my intent was to blog throughout the pandemic to have a record of how that unfolded. That didn't happen. We are now (as of this week) officially out of the global pandemic - although Covid is still around and likely always will be. However, life is pretty much back to normal with a few smart changes to how society interacts with each other to try to remain a little less germ-y.

One month from tomorrow I'm having total knee replacement surgery of my right knee. I'm going to be off work for approximately 4-6 weeks and maybe even longer. With this in my future it seems like a good time to start, again, with trying to keep a fairly timely record of my doings and my thoughts about what is happening in the world.

Today I'm just saying hello. It's good to be back.

2020 - The Year that is Changing the World

Truthfully, I'd forgotten about my blog. That is until I shared it with my new team members at work who were curious about my CSC experience back in 2017. After pulling the blog up I remembered I had posted a bit after CSC. However. my last post has been over a year ago - and was almost a year to the date when the world began to dramatically change.

Early in 2020 a new virus began spreading around the globe. It's a coronavirus and was aptly named Covid-19. Governments began taking precautionary measures in January and February, but it wasn't until March that things became really serious.

In Kansas City the entire city went into quarantine on March 24th. This meant all non-essential businesses closed and remained closed until May 14th. Steve and I began quarantining on March 15th. My last outing was to have lunch with the Tribe at Spokes on March 14th. No one could have imagined that this was the beginning of much greater changes.

The entire country went into lock down for several weeks. However, we opened up too quickly and too few people are taking this seriously and we are still in the middle of an epidemic that keeps growing.

We are now five months (or more, depending upon how you are counting) into this virus and Steve and I have still barely left the house. Essentially, I do a week's worth of grocery shopping on Mondays and go pick up carry-out for dinner on Wednesdays and Saturdays. I work from home. Church has been meeting online since mid-March. We've had a few socially distanced gatherings with 1-2 people. This means we sit about 8-feet or more apart from each other and it is BYOE (Bring Your Own Everything).

It is almost time for schools to start up (they all went online in the Spring) and no one can agree on the best way to do this. Some are going in-person, some all online and some are doing a hybrid of the two. I know many teachers and parents are terrified and confused.

Professional and collegiate sports were cancelled or have been put on abbreviated schedules. No international travel is allowed. Many governments have put in mandatory mask orders. Over 5 million people in the world have been knowingly affect and over 160,000 Americans have died. We can't shake hands. We can't hug.

We all keep eagerly awaiting for things to "get back to normal." However, I honestly don't know if what was normal will ever be normal, again. Winter will be here soon and the expectation is that things will continue to get worse.

None of this has even mentioned the incompetence of our government leadership - headed up by President Trump (who is a horrid man). The election is about 90 days away and I pray we will have a new president in January. However, half the country seems to think he's doing an okay job...and, even if he loses the election there is no guarantee he will accept the results.

All around, we are in a very ugly condition right now.

Liberty Hospital 1/2 Marathon and Jewell 5K

I forgot to post about this horrendous race.

Two weeks ago I did the Jewell 5K. I'd done this in 2017, but the course was totally changed this year. Instead of being on fairly flat ground the course took us through the campus of William Jewell College. WJC is a typical midwestern, small college - very beautiful and very hilly. It was the hardest 5K I've ever done.

The race expo was really nice with lots of vendors and free goodies. The temperature at the start of the race was 25 degrees. The hills were non-stop. Logic says that what goes up must come down, but there were certainly no drastic downhills like the inclines we endured. According to my Garmin I did the equivalent of 18 flights of stairs during the race. My time was 54:22. Not what I wanted, but in the end I was just happy to get it over with. I'm not sure if I will repeat this race next year.

Sweet 16 Begins

A new year and a new reason to be moving.

Yesterday I walked the Westport St. Patrick's Day Run. It's a four-mile race that took us from Westport north into the Valentine neighborhood, through the campus of MCC, down into Penn Valley Park and back. It was a gorgeous day. My goal was to do 18 minutes miles. My final average mile was a little over 17 minutes as I finished in 1:08:55. Mile three is what got me. I was under 17 minutes for every mile and then mile three had some hills and I stopped to drink some water ending that mile is about 18:50.

This is the first of the four races that make up the KC Sweet 16 Series. I will also be running the Trolley Run, Four on the Forth and the Zoo Run. Hopefully, by the Zoo Run in September I'll actually be running.

Also this week tri-training began for the WIN for KC sprint-tri on July 27. This mean, ideally, six days of training with Tuesdays as my rest day. Today I will swim, bike and run. It doesn't sound too appealing at the moment as I'm pretty sore from the race yesterday and then walking to and from the Brookside St. Patrick's Day Warm-Up parade and standing for about two hours to watch the parade. However, I think it will feel good and help loosen the muscles to get moving again today - especially the pool work,

Let's hope for an injury free training and race season!

A Lot to Cover

I knew it had been awhile since I'd written anything, but I didn't realize it had been since May. A lot has happened since then.

June
I had arthroscopic surgery on my right knee in late June. It went well and there wasn't as much damage to the knee as I was concerned there might be. My meniscus is in great condition. As the doctor explained to my husband he did a lot of "lawn mowing" on my cartilage. I took a week off of work to rest and heal. My one week follow-up appointment essentially got me released. The doctor's assistant who saw me said I could pretty much do anything I wanted to do and just let pain be my guide. That excited me - although I couldn't imagine anyone in my condition at that time doing much of anything. However, I got in the pool pretty straight away and for two days swam 1000 yards. On day three I realized that was too much and took it down to half of that.

August
Early August I saw my orthopedic surgeon for my final release - which I was given. However, he instructed me quite differently than his assistant had. Essentially I was told that swimming was great; eventually, I could start working out on a stationary bike; and before I begin running in the spring I needed to lose weight (no surprise there, but it was the first time I've been told that by a doctor). Besides swimming, I've done water aerobics a couple of times at the encouragement of my sister. I haven't been too impressed with the water aerobics, but it sounds like my sister's instructors are much more challenging than mine.

After quite a bit of research I joined Weight Watchers. The program is really user friendly and it comes with a phone app to input your points for the day. Plus, it keeps track of my activity registered from my Garmin. I've lost about two pounds per week - which is what the experts say is healthy. I fell off the wagon for one week while I was traveling for work, but got right back on as soon as I got home.

September
I had minor back surgery to remove a large lipoma. It was an in office procedure and the whole thing took about 35 minutes. They put in some dissolvable stitches and covered those with some sort of glue. I was able to resume normal activity the next day. However, I was definitely sore and have yet to go back in the water. I expect to start up again on Monday.

Today was a great day. I walked the Run for the Giraffes at the Kansas City Zoo with my old running partner, Michelle. I honestly wasn't sure if I'd be able to make the four miles without being in great pain by the end of it. However, my knee did well and everything felt normal. It took us 1:20 to finish, but we enjoyed the leisurely race that goes through the entire zoo. Plus, I got a really fun medal with a giraffe on it.

The consequence of today was proof that my body is truly ready to start moving again. I still plan to mainly do swimming, but I also plan to add walking into the mix. And...I have three four-mile races that I need to catch up on and register my time.

At the beginning of the year I signed up for the KC Sweet 16. This consists of four four-mile races: Westport St. Patrick's Day Run, Trolley Run, Four on the 4th and the Zoo Run. The first three I was unable to do because of my knee. I was able to collect my bib and swag ahead of time, but I am expected to complete the three I couldn't run on my own and register my time. As a reward for doing all four races I got a pretty sweet full-sized microfiber towel with the KC Sweet 16 logo on it. I want to make sure I've truly earned that towel and the medals from the other races. So, now that I know I can go four miles without being in pain I should be able to knock those out in the next month or so.

I'm excited to be back at the point I am. I know I have a long ways to go. I do have goals to work toward, however: 2019 KC Sweet 16 and the 2019 triathlon season. I'd also like to do a half marathon in 2020. I've finally admitted to myself that I probably have aged out (more mentally than physically) of doing another full marathon.

Now that I'm moving you can expect more frequent posting. Happy swimming, everyone!

My Word for the Year

In January I decided I needed a word for my year. Something to motivate me and keep me focused. The word I chose was...Forward.

Now, I feel like everything is on hold until I get my MRI next week. To catch you up, my right knee started really bothering me in February. I went to the doctor a few weeks later. I did eight weeks of PT that didn't help much. I went back to the doctor and scheduled an MRI. The appointment was scheduled three weeks out from when I made it. So, I've spent a lot of time dealing with my knee and figuring out what I can and can't do. A lot of time waiting.

Some days are better than others. There are times when it's painful, but doesn't seem to limit my walking or have a nagging sense of pain all the time. Then, there are other days when it hurts so much I don't feel like I can even walk much. I definitely can't run or ride my bike. I can swim, but I'm waiting to officially join the gym until after we get back from Annual Conference on June 11. All this means I haven't been moving much and that is frustrating - although, admittedly, somewhat self-imposed.

There are a lot of things I want to do - the WIN for KC triathlon at the end of June, the July 4th four-miler, the KC Zoo Run in September, possibly a mission trip in August. However, I feel like I can't really make any solid plans until I know the results from the MRI and what the treatment plan will be.

So, it seems like "Forward" isn't really happening right now. I keep reminding myself that Forward doesn't have to just be physical. There are other things I want to do - start writing my book, Bible journaling, more focused and regular meditation, lose weight. I can't let my physical mentality eat away at the rest of what I want to do with the year.

Onward and Upward!

2018 Trolley Run

Today is the 30th annual Trolley Run in Kansas City. This is one of the more popular races in the midwest - with about 7000 participants. It's supposed to be one of the fastest four-mile courses in the country. It starts at 75th and Wornall in Waldo, runs down Brookside Boulevard and finished at the Plaza. So, it's right in my neighborhood.

I've run it a couple of times - years ago. I signed up to run it this year before my knee started getting wonky on me. So, I actually won't be running it. I did, however, do pick up my race packet this morning.

I'm doing the Sweet 16 race series this year. It's four four-mile races - Westport St. Patrick's Day Run, Trolley Run, Four on the 4th and the Zoo Run. Fortunately, if you aren't able to run in one of the races you can do it virtually. Once you've done the run on your own you send in proof of your course (like from my Garmin watch) and your time. This are officially entered and show up in Atlinks. So, it counts as a real race time.

I need to do both the St. Pat's Run and the Trolley Run virtually. I hope by the time July 4 gets here I'll be running well enough to do it in person. The Zoo Run isn't until September.

So, I'm sitting here on my couch with my race bib and t-shirt on the table in front of me, so eager to get to the time when I can go out and run my four miles. For now, I'll cheer on the others.

Time to Get Over Myself

I finally stopped feeling sorry for myself and decided it was time to get into the pool. I still can't run or bike, but there is nothing stopping me from swimming - except my own attitude.

We've just joined a new gym (although, we were members there the last time we lived in KC). It's not a fancy facility (it's connected to a hospital and does a lot of PT), but it has everything you need in a gym - including a great lap-swimming pool. Pools can be rarities in gyms and so I find it to be golden when you are able to join a gym that has one.

I've been swimming twice this week. Both times I swam 500 yards. The first time I stopped twice to catch my breath (although I think it was more mental than physical). The second time I swam without stopping and my time was 12:08. It's good to have a baseline to go off of as I build up my distance, endurance and fitness level.

On top of the swimming, I am still doing the 100 push-up challenge. I've had to restart it a few times, but I'm into week three and determined not to stop this time. I'm still doing modified push-ups using the arm of our couch, but I can tell I'm really using my muscles and getting some good strength training in there.

Finally, the PT for my knee (knees) has really ramped up. I'm supposed to do it twice a day (it takes about 25 minutes each time). However, I've only been doing it once a day this week because my legs and knees are so sore from the exercises. I can tell it's developed now into a real strength training routine and not just some easy PT exercises.

So, between PT, push-ups and swimming I have really been working my body this week. There isn't any noticeable change, but I can certainly feel a whole lot of my muscles groups being worked.

If a Picture is Worth a Thousand Words...

...then how much is this video worth? To me, it's pretty priceless.

I put together this short video to share with my office in Columbia what I experienced during my time in Indonesia with the IBM Corporate Service Corps.

I hope you enjoy it.

IBM CSC Indo8 video

Concussion

In non-sports related news, I received a mild concussion on Saturday night. So, I am on "brain rest" for a few days. This means I cannot exercise until I am feeling normal - or as normal as I usually feel.

My last day for running and push-ups was Thursday, Jan. 26. That means it will be one week tomorrow since I've had a chance to exercise. It's frustrating, but I know it's just a minor setback and these are the types of things that have to go into my willingness to adjust my schedule when needed.

I hope I can go for a run on Saturday. We'll see.

Making an Impact: a CSC Indonesia 8 Update

All 13 of us on the Indonesia 8 team went to Solo City hoping we could make a difference. And I believe we left there after four weeks of hard work believing we did make a difference - or at least left behind the tools that could help make a difference in the organizations we worked with.

However, one place I don't believe we expected to make a difference was at the Royal Heritage Surakarta Hotel - our home for one month.

Most evening when we got back to the hotel we would sit out by the pool to converse (and sometimes work) while enjoying some adult beverages. While we never got crazy I'm pretty certain the beer consumption in the hotel more than quadrupled while we were there (partially because it is a predominately Muslim country and so fewer people drink).

Even during our stay things changed a little at the pool bar. About halfway through our stay they started offering a special on bottled beer by the bucket. Prior to this we had to buy individual bottles and it sometimes took awhile to get our order from the pool to the restaurant downstairs where the beer was kept and then back to the pool to be served. Having buckets definitely made it more efficient for them and a little less expensive and quicker gratification for us.

Well, apparently, we inspired them. The hotel manager told one of my team members that they saw all of us chill out there. So, why don't they make something in the pool bar. Now, every Friday night they have happy hour and live music.

It just goes to show that you can never tell when and where you will make a difference.

#IBMCSC #CSCIndo8 #IBMIndo

Whoa!

I did 47 push-ups today using five reps - 11, 8, 8, 9, 11. It was HARD. For most of them I couldn't go down all the way and by the end of each rep I was really struggling to get back to the point my elbows were straight.

Thursday I do 53. Ugh.

I Needs It To Be Warmer

I can't run outside when it's 20 degrees F. I'm not that tough right now. I need it to get warmer, please.

114

Today I finished the first week of Hundred Push-ups. 114 is the total number of push-ups I did over the course of three days (with rest days in between). They weren't pretty. They were girly push-ups. But, it's more push-ups than I've ever done in one week - maybe since grade school.

I haven't begun the C25K. The weather got cold and icy and I haven't ventured outside. This coming week is going to be cold. It will be well below freezing until Thursday. However, it appears it will be dry with little wind - and even sunny for most of the days. So, today I will find my warmest winter running gear and will begin the program in earnest tomorrow.

The Beginning

Today was the day.

I started the 100 push-ups program. I found an app for it. It's simple, but it tells me how many push-ups to do for each rep and counts the time in between reps. Plus, on the last rep you're supposed to do as many push-ups as possible and on the app I can edit that number and get an accurate count for the day. The minimum required today was 25 and I did 33. I can already tell my arms are going to be sore tomorrow.

C25K did not begin. I was planning to go in the morning, but ran out of time last night before being able to find my gear for running in the dark. Then, I had a meeting after work and it got dark, again. So, I will find my gear tonight and will have to begin the running program on Thursday. Tuesday and Wednesday I'll be in Columbia. I can run Thursday, Friday and Saturday, use Sunday as a rest day and then be back on schedule for next Monday.

Not the greatest of starts, but it's something.

Welcome 2018

2017 was an amazing year. Despite the politics and the current climate in our country and the world I will look back on last year as one of the best ones I've personally had. This has made me excited for 2018 because I want to keep moving forward with the momentum I ended 2017 with.

I've taken time to write out my overall goals for the year and a roadmap for how to reach each of those goals. It will take discipline (meaning don't watch so much TV), but I'm excited at the potential set out before me.

My blog will move back to focusing on my fitness - primarily my triathlon training and the road I am taking to get to WIN for KC triathlon in July. I have a few baby steps I am taking to get my body back into conditioning form. Since breaking my elbow in May I pretty much put fitness to the side for the remainder of 2017. So, it now feels like I am starting over.

The first thing I am doing is the Hundred Push-Ups challenge. This is a six week program that takes your starting fitness level and over the course of three days per week gets you to the goal of being able to do 100 push-ups. Steve is doing it, too, and I'd like to thank our friend Leah Gunn Emerick for introducing us to this challenge. I'll keep you posted on how things are going.

Following that I am going to do the 12 week Body Boss challenge. This one looks pretty intimidating, but I'm excited about the results that should come from it. I believe doing the Hundred Push-Ups challenge prior to this will get be in good shape to start the next 12 weeks of training.

Triathlon training goes into full force at the beginning of March. So, some of the triathlon training will overlap with the Body Boss training, but it should be a good mix of physical training and challenges. My goal is to finish the triathlon in under 1.5 hours.

Additionally, I plan on doing the Kansas City Sweet 16. This is four 4-mile races that take place beginning March 10 at the Westport St. Patrick's Day Run and culminate with the KC Zoo Run on Sept. 22.

So, I have a lot on my plate and because of my focuses will be doing a great deal of cross-training beginning with strength training and running.

Let's get this done!

CSC Indoneisa 8: Final Thoughts

How do I wrap my experiences and thoughts about the five weeks I spent in Indonesia into one blog post? I don't think it's possible. I'm just going to do the best I can.

Was my time with Corporate Service Corps and the Indonesia 8 team life changing? I don't believe so. However, it was life affirming. Going into CSC I had a good grasp on who I am - my wants, needs, dreams. So, nothing happened that changed any of my outlook. However, there were things that happened that affirmed who I am - good and not so good. My strengths were endorsed and my weaknesses were confirmed. I know which areas in my life I am happy with and where I need to continue to focus my growth and maturing process.

I'm not really certain what I expected going into CSC. I wish I'd written that down. But, I know what I gained from it and that is multi-faceted.

First, there is the business result. The sub-team I was on for Solo Techno Park faced a pretty daunting task that at first seemed insurmountable. However, after our first week of research and tweaking our Statement of Work a little bit we were able to work toward and accomplish deliverables that met some of the needs to STP. We accomplished things for STP as a whole, but also got the satisfaction of helping a few people one on one. Specifically, if he follows through with it, one of the incubator tenants will be granted a patent at no cost to him. That could be life changing for many people.

Secondly, there is the in-country immersion experience. My guess is I will never have another opportunity to go to Indonesia and I will never have another opportunity to spend five weeks in another culture. I am grateful I grew up traveling as much as I did. I think it made the transition to another culture more comfortable and I was more quickly able to immerse myself in that culture. While I sometimes felt a little lost I never felt uncomfortable or out of place. I enjoyed being a part of the community - from the office, to the relationships we built with our project assistants and hotel staff, to just wandering around the cities.

Prior to the opening ceremony

Finally, there are the relationships that were grown. I love looking at the picture of the 13 of us on day one prior to heading to our kickoff and looking at the pictures of us after our closing presentation was complete and our last day in the hotel before we began to head back home. We went from just standing close to each other so we could all fit in the picture to not being able to be close enough to each other. I've developed friendships, both professional and personal, that I believe will last a lifetime. Every time one of us peeled away to head home a little part of me broke, but as with many breaks those bonds became stronger after the healing.

After our closing presentations

I think I will be trying to wrap my head around everything that I've been through for many months to come. Every day brings new revelations to me - more gratitude, more emotions. I cherish every one of these moments just as I cherish the moments I had during CSC Indonesia 8 and just as a cherish the deep bonds of friendship with my fellow team members.

A part of my heart was left in Indonesia and a part of my heart was given to every member of my CSC Indonesia 8 team.

The day of goodbyes

#IBMCSC #CSCIndo8 #IBMIndo

The Long Road Home

Traveling halfway around the world is not an easy thing. It makes me marvel at our ability to fly and I'm in awe that we can go as far as we can in a day's worth of traveling in a large metal tube.

I left Bali on Thursday, Nov. 10. My flight was at 4:30pm and checkout time at the hotel was noon. So, at noon I used the Grab app to get a car to the airport. There is a lot of tension right now in Bali between the Grab/Uber drivers and the taxis. So, there are a few places where taxis have essentially unioninzed and other drives cannot pick-up in those areas. One of those places is the airport. I'm not exactly sure what can happen to a Grab/Uber driver if they try to do business at one of the forbidden places, but they certainly make an effort to stay away from those locations - but, everything has its price. Right?

When I ordered the Grab the app told me it would be Rp. 90,000 (about $7). However, when the driver contacted me by text he said he was not allowed to go there, but he would take me for Rp. 150,000 (about $11) and I would need to refer to him as my personal driver if anyone asked. No problem! And there was no problem. He got me to the airport and was able to get out of there before anyone said anything to either of us.

I had about an hour before I could check in. So, I wandered around the airport. There wasn't much to see. Once I checked in (my bags were under 40 kilos total - which is what I paid for!) I went through security and simply hung out until my flight left. We were about 30 minutes late leaving the ground and we taxied for a long time in Jakarta. So, we actually didn't get off the flight until about 7pm. The original plan was to land at 5:30pm.

I had arranged for a driver from the hotel to pick me up, but we were so late arriving in Jakarta I think he had left. I wandered around trying to figure out what to do or find someone to talk to who might be able to help me. This was a learning time for me because I was truly the one in a foreign land not understanding the language and not able to find anyone I could communicate with. I'm grateful I have traveled so much or I might have been in a state of panic. Eventually, I was able to communicate with someone who worked at the airport just enough to show her the address of my hotel and was told that it was actually located at Terminal 1. Fabulous! So, I took the shuttle the very long distance to Terminal 1 and quickly found my hotel. HOWEVER, this was another branch of the hotel I had booked and my hotel was actually outside the airport. So, I had to wait for the shuttle come back around and finally ended up at my hotel around 9pm. The room was very small and had no window, but all I needed was a bed - so, I was quite content.

The shuttle only runs every two hours. My flight to Tokyo left at 6:45am - meaning, I had to take the 3am shuttle to the airport. It was a short night, but I was able to sleep for about four and a half hours.

I was flying Japan Airlines to Tokyo and I had been unable to check-in online since the original ticket was purchased through American. My sister had done some stateside research for me and found out JAL doesn't offer seats with extra legroom. When I checked in at the counter at the airport I asked about extra legroom and he said he could put be in an exit row for both the flight to Tokyo (seven hours) and the flight to Dallas (11 hours) - and there would be no additional cost. Bonus! When I found my seat on the airplane I was stunned that I had about five feet of open space in front of me. It was amazing!

The flight from Jakarta to Tokyo was uneventful. I sat next to a man who was flying back to St. Louis, just on the other side of Missouri. I watched two movies - Going in Style and The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel. It was interesting the things I noticed about India in the second movie that I don't think I would have noticed before this experience and I wish I could have watched it with one of my Indian brothers to ask questions. The flight arrived on time in Tokyo.

I didn't have my luggage to deal with in Tokyo. So ,I just had to find the way to my next gate. I didn't have a whole lot of time in between flights. I went straight to my gate, bought some water and a soda and sat for awhile writing on my computer before boarding for Dallas.

I was thrilled, again, when I boarded in Tokyo to find the exit seat for this leg of the trip was just the same as the leg before - lots and lots of legroom. There was quite a lot of turbulence on this flight. It was not enough to make me sick, but it prevented the flight attendants from being able to be in the cabin much. So, we didn't get a whole lot of water during this 11 hour flight and I became very thirsty. I definitely slept during this leg - which is unusual for me - and I am really glad I was able to sleep so much. The flight went by fast and I was not nearly as miserable as I've been on some flights. Unfortunately, the plane left Tokyo about 30 minutes late and wasn't able to make up any of the time. So, we arrived in Dallas late and many of us missed our connecting flights, including me.

The airline was prepared, however, and had already reserved seats for those of us with tight connections on the next available flights to our destinations and had vouchers waiting for us when we deplaned. From getting off the plane I went through customs - which is much easier than it used to be, but the line was still really long. Then I had to gather my luggage to go through immigration and there was a long wait for luggage and a long line for immigration. After I got through immigration I was able to drop my bags off to check them through to Kansas City. But, I still had to go through a new security checkpoint - with another long line - and by this point I knew I wasn't going to make my original connecting flight.

Once I got through security I took my time because I had about three hours before my flight. I talked to a nice man who works at the airport about football (oh, how I've missed that game) Then, I went to a little bar and watched football on the TV while eating some glorious beef nachos smothered in cheese. They tasted SO good.

For the final leg for my trip - the one I had to be rebooked for - I was in the very last row of the plane. I actually didn't mind because it was quiet, there was no one sitting next to me and I could try to sleep to make the time go faster. The flight was just a little over and hour, but I was so tired and so physically miserable by this point I just wanted to be home.

I was near the last one off the plane and as soon as I saw Steve I started crying some little tears. He was waiting for me with a huge Jones smile on his face, a bouquet of roses and my coat. We caught up while waiting for luggage and during the ride home (for which he had a blanket waiting for me in the car). As soon as we got home I greeted Lewis - who was excited to see me, but more so wanted to go potty. He was still super excited that all three of us were together, again, and he's barely left my side since I've gotten home. We arrived at the house in time to see the last quarter of the Oklahoma game - which we won and for which I could barely stay awake for - and by 11pm I was in bed.

If my calculations are correct from the time I left Bali to arriving in Kansas City I traveled for 47 hours. That is a miserable amount of time to travel, but the past five weeks was totally worth every second of it.

#IBMCSC #CSCIndo8 #IBMIndo