The Two Year Mark and Tribute to my Sister

Yes, it's true! I have hit the "Two Year Mark" Meaning it has been two years since I moved to Taiwan (a year since I have returned home)

Here are some memories from my final 24 hrs in the U.S. (last 24 before Taiwan, not last 24 hrs ever!!!) As I was doing the final read-through, it occurred to me that most of these stories relate to my sister! So it's a tribute to her as well....

• Debo's daughter, Ashley was 6 months old at the time. During my last Sunday, I was caring for her in Relief Society, since Deborah was in Primary. Halfway through the lesson, she fell asleep, and I laid her down on a blanket on the floor. However, a half-hour later, she was still asleep, but I picked her up anyway. I woke her up, but since I didn't know when I would get to hold a baby again (esp one as cute as Ashley) I couldn't let this time with my niece go by just watching her sleep!

• The last people I said farewell to, in person, were my Uncle Russell, Aunt Paula, and cousin Marchelle. I didn't cry then, but I came very close!!! They have always been good to me, like my "2nd family" as we refer to each other. I feel loved, welcomed and supported in their home and..... they laugh at my jokes!!! Or perhaps the attempted jokes... I have gone to church with their family, in the same ward, for years, and so when I attended my first sacrament meeting in Taiwan, I thought to myself, "Where is my family? Why aren't they at church with me?" I came to love the branch, obviously, but that first Sunday was a surprise!
  

• Snacks for the trip: I told Debo I wanted to take some nutrient dense snacks with me on the flight, and to eat when I got there! I had thoughts of waking up in the middle of the night, being absolutely STARVING and having no food- so I brought snacks with me! Debo helped me choose Cheerios (my favorite cereal), beef jerky, dried fruit, and goldfish crackers. As we were doing the final packing of my suitcases (at 2:00 am, nonetheless) the baggie of Cheerios wasn't completely closed and a fistful of Cheerios spilled into my suitcase. Debo looked at me and said, "When you unpack your suitcase and see the Cheerios, you can think, 'packed with love by my sister Debo!"

• Airport Check-In (The Tears and Undoing.....)

The morning I left, I basically felt ready to go, ready to take on this new adventure, see what it was like, and put all my wondering to rest. Still, I knew I wouldn't feel completely at ease until I was in line, ready to board the plane. And I was right! I got a knot in my stomach and bit lip when I saw the ticket agent take out a measuring tape and start measuring my suitcase. Too big suitcase=90.00 fine! Mainly I felt guilty that I hadn't been better prepared! That's where Debo came in- she took care of it all from paying the fine to calling Mom and Dad and tactfully telling them I didn't want to talk about it....
Once we checked in and left the counter, I started bawling, hard. I think it was about the only time I had cried in the past 72 hours, actually. There were the emotions of stress, fear, excitement, etc. but the main reason for my tears were thinking about my big sister! How much she had done for me, how much I loved her and would miss her. She gave me a big, long hug, told me with love, "I was afraid this would happen to you,"and then once my tears had stopped, she kept telling me, "Look, there's your friends, they're waiting for you!"
And I moved ahead!!! Except, that Debo had to call me back 5 minutes later because I had the parking validation pass....