Leaving Home

This is John with our little boy, Zach.

They were sporting the same haircut back in the day!

Well, that little boy is grown up now.
And just left home for the first time.

And this is where he has gone: Mt. Rainier National Park
to work for the summer.

These are the boxes we packed & shipped ahead of time
with his bedding, snow clothes, etc.
And thankfully they arrived there before he did! :)

Zach at the airport, guitar in hand,
ready to board a plane.

Though we have traveled around the country as a family, and Zach has gone on trips with his Choir & Youth Group, etc. this is the first time he has ever flown alone. He had it all planned out; he would fly to Seattle, take a shuttle from the airport to his hotel, (this would also be the first time he'd ever stay in a hotel room alone) walk to a restaurant to have dinner, (he'd found out ahead of time what was right around his hotel!) he had scheduled a Taxi to pick him up in the early morning to take him to his meeting spot with the Mt. Rainier people. I was a little nervous, he'd be thousands of miles away from home in a city he'd never been in before, I think he was a little nervous too!

He got there, got his luggage, it took him awhile, but he found his shuttle to his hotel. Got to the hotel, (the desk clerk was an east Indian man, who when he found out Zach was from Arizona, kept him there asking him all kinds of questions about Arizona's controversial new Immigration law.) :) He called to confirm with the Taxi company his pick-up time for the morning. Set up a wake up call. Walked over to Taco Bell to eat. And actually slept okay in his hotel room. The next morning, about 20 minuets before he was to be picked up, the Taxi company called to tell him they couldn't come. He didn't panic & just called another Taxi company to take him! (that's my boy!)

When he left home in Arizona it was sunny & in the 90's! Seattle is in the 50's & raining! Ouch! He said he was under the Space Needle & it was so cloudy & rainy that he couldn't even see the top! (Well Toto, I don't think we're in Kansas anymore!) He meet up with some other employees heading to Mt. Rainier for the summer, most of them had worked there previous years as well. They told him housekeeping is the hardest job on the mountain! :) Before he left I told him his motto for this summer is: "Work Hard! Play Harder!"

Now before he left we knew he wouldn't have internet access while there. We are a Social Media loving family, so, being as brilliant as we are, we set up a Twitter account for him, because then he can just text in to Twitter from his phone & that will update his Facebook page as well. So he can keep us all updated during his summer. Or so we thought! Today he gets there to find out, not only is there no Internet access, but there is also NO CELL PHONE COVERAGE! Really? How do these people live?! :) So that means no Tweets, no updates, no calls! :( There is only a payphone. So tomorrow we are sending him a phone card! Since we only have cell phones, I don't think you can call a cell phone collect from a payphone. And it would take way too much change! :)

We had looked up on line the boxes we shipped ahead of time & saw they had been delivered. I was so relieved, but when he gets to the mountain tonight he finds out his boxes aren't at the lodge, they are in town at the post office, so he won't get them tomorrow. It's freezing cold, he can't believe the amount of snow still on the ground, they have had a record amount of snow fall this year & it's still piled up to the second story windows of the lodge! Wow! But no boxes, means no bedding! And no winter coat! My poor baby! I sure hope they take care of him.

Seriously, how am I going to survive this? My baby boy out there on his own, and I can't just reach him whenever I want! So this week I will also be putting in my vacation time at work so I can go & visit him! :) Getting him ready this past week, reminded me of the first time I traveled alone, I was almost exactly his same age. I traveled farther than he is but not for as long . . .

Yes, I went to France!
On a Missions Trip.

That's me in the Yellow top sitting on the far left!
I was the only one on our team from Arizona,
I flew alone to Miami to meet up with the rest of the group
who were from all over the U.S.
We spent 3 days there, getting to know each other,
learning songs & skits, and preparing for our trip.

We did Drama in the streets.
Held services at local Churches around France.

Met some boys from Sweden! :)

The year was 1985!
(Notice the clothes & hair!)

Then we got to spend a couple of days sight seeing (& shopping) in Paris!
I loved every minuet of it!
Before Zach left I gave him a Journal.
I still have the one I kept on my trip to France!

I wonder if my Mom felt then like I'm feeling now?!