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Part 7 Heading Home
November 2 - the longest day of my life!
Up and out of the room by 6am so we can catch the 8:35am flight. We were the first in line to get checked through but the line quickly grew behind us. We waited in the seats by the gate until the flight but to get there we had to get through 2 checkpoints.
I thought that this plane was to be a smaller one but it was a big 747 -
400 and we had isle seats for the legroom. Mary was good on this flight of only about 2 hours. We landed in Tokyo and got onto a bus to get to the terminal for another 2 checkpoints before getting to the waiting area. We were there just long enough for Mary to get something to eat and a diaper change. We were able to pass though the checkpoint without being checked again and because we had babies, we were able to board before the other passengers.
Once again, this plane was a 747 - 400 and we had isle seats. We were seated next to a couple with a 6-month-old daughter, their birth child. I can't remember her name but they live around the Indianapolis area. Unfortunately this was a bad flight. Mary would sleep for about 2 hours and then the baby would cry and Mary would wake up and the baby would sleep for 2 hours and then Mary would cry and the baby would wake up while Mary would sleep for 2 hours...... I think I only got about 20 min of sleep the entire flight and when I went go to the bathroom Mary would scream bloody murder until I would get back and then she would not let go of me. We took off at 2:50pm and arrived in Detroit at 1:30pm the same day. I love to hold her but a clinging baby for almost 11 hours is a little much. The window shutters were left up for the trip and it was interesting to see 2 sunrises and 1 sunset in less than 16 hours.
When we were at Detroit, we had to get off the plane, pass though the immigration checkpoint and wait in a room for the officer to check over Mary's papers. He finally gave us her passport back and said goodbye. He kept the brown envelope that I believe he said that I would get back when I get Mary's green card in about
6 weeks (I think). I was so tired that I didn't hear all that he had said. We then went though another checkpoint and boarded a bus to get to the terminal.
(I got her green card in 6 weeks but the envelope was not returned).
The last leg of the trip was to go through the last checkpoint (8 if you are counting) and take off from Detroit at 3:30pm on the tiny 20 seater plane. Mary thankfully slept the whole flight and only awoke as we landed in Dayton, Ohio at 4:10pm for a quick look around and then back to sleep. I wish I could have slept on the flight but by now my back was screaming for a comfortable chair or better yet a soft bed.
I sat down with our carry-on while Bob went to get our luggage. Someone came up behind me, said something, and I recognized the voice as Janet from across the street
from my Dad's. I could not figure out why she was there until I saw my Dad. It was so nice to see someone I knew and they spoke the same language I did. Mary was starting to wake up so I gave her to Dad and of course, he held her for only a min because he doesn't know what to do with babies. Bob's Mom came along and saved him by taking Mary and holding her but Mary would only take a few min of her until she wanted to get back to mommy.
Janet had volunteered to be the chauffeur and as payment, Mary screamed most of the 45 min drive home until the bottle came and she fell asleep just as we were getting off the highway. Bob's brother Tom had planned a small welcome home party for us so Bob's family and my brother came out that evening. Mary got to meet all of Bob's family that night (she met my family about a week later). I had to finally put Mary to bed around 9pm and she slept through the whole night. Bob and I went to bed about 11pm and that was about 30 hours since the alarm clock had gone off a half a world away. We were all exhausted and slept well.
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Copyright 2002
last modified on 04/21/2002 01:02:49 PM
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