Christmas was just about underway in China. By underway I mean the same sparse decorations and window stickers from the year before were yet again ushering in"Christmas Cheer". But we were much less impressed this time around knowing that the holiday would be fully enjoyed true Christmas decorations and all. We were hoping to spot Santa's sleigh on our fourteen hour flight to Lincoln, Nebraska to see Reese and the rest of Mom's family coming out for the holiday.
Booking the tickets on Christmas day was hundreds of dollars cheaper than before or after the holiday. We were pretty happy to just be going back after fifteen months of enjoyed and endured China. It ended up being the the longest Christmas day EVER! Three hour flight from Hangzhou to Beijing. Left Beijing at 1pm, then after thirteen hours flying across time zones and we arrived in New York at 1:30pm still on Christmas day. From there we transferred to Newark New Jersey where we flew to Omaha and drove an hour to the Steven's house in Lincoln. On the connecting flight from Beijing to JFK International Airport I felt a quiet most quiet whisper say, "Check under your seat" but anxious to get off the plane (it had been 13 hours of re-circulated air and limited leg room okay?!) and not wanting to bother the sweet, elderly, Filipino couple sitting next to me I ignored the thought and continued off the plane. It was on the subway to the Newark New Jersey airport that I realized my journal filled with the last six months of China experiences and personal reflections had been needlessly left and likely lost forever under seat 42B. Big punch in the gut. But still just one of many tutoring experiences yet to come.
The first hours back in America were euphoric. Finally we were living the dream that had been hovering in the back corners of our minds for months. All the things we realized we had taken for granted were again evident, only this time we fully appreciated every little thing. We could ask people for directions and understand their response. But we hardly had to ask because we could read the signs!! Even in New York, there was so much space. Public bathrooms had soap AND paper towels AND HOT WATER! There were so many, I mean, an inexhaustible amount of snack choices and ALL OF THEM LOOKED APPETIZING. No one stared at us. Even when we kept laughing gleefully about how awesome America is. There was so much ethnic diversity! So many different colored heads. There was music in the subways and art and expression. Life was abundant.
Later we were talking with someone about politics. They were bad-mouthing the President and complaining about the lack of equality in the US. It finally clicked for me, what a blessing it is to be able to say such things. Just how different the world of freedom is from that of oppressing control. Its so amazing that here on Earth there are hundreds of different worlds all evolving in their own sphere. In one you can say whatever you want about the leaders and the law has no power over you. In another, one shady tweet or slightly too bold a statement can have you locked up in a labor camp. In one world: what you look like or where you come from puts no limits on where you can go if you are only willing to work for your dreams. In another: your destiny is set from birth whether you will succeed or fail with little exception or means of bypassing the system. I love the world. And I love China. I love the people there and the language and the culture. China is a wonderful place. I can't wait to go back and see it all. I think of my dear friend Quan Jie who's dream is to go to America. He's twenty and studying the art of painting traditional Chinese ceramics. His parents are restaurant owners and the opportunity to leave China may not come his way for a long time, if ever. I am immensely grateful and proud beyond possible that I am American. That passport is a ticket to the world. It is an honor to be a citizen of this country and bear the responsibility my rights entail.
Anyway, we were thrilled to be back in the heartland of America. It was snowy and cold, and oh so flat. Why anyone decided to settle in Nebraska remains a mystery to me but it was great to be together again with Reese and much missed cousins and aunts and uncles. A very happy reunion awaited us all in the sleepy foyer of the Omaha airport at midnight on Christmas Day.
Durning the weeks leading up to our return to the States mom often expressed her expectations for the trip. "All I want to do is sit on a couch and pet our cat and not think about teaching English." A pretty low-bar indeed.
We entertained ourselves with common suburban American activities. A birthday party for Andrew at Chuck E. Cheese (the pizza was surprisingly better than we remembered) and watching Frozen II at the theater. As well as going to those pottery painting places that cost way more than they should.
We made a trip to the Winter Quarters Temple, it was Audrey's second time ever!
On New Years Eve I realized my mission call had been delivered to my inbox days before on Christmas Eve! We had been so busy getting settled and reveling in the most enjoyable sensory overload that I hadn't checked my phone for hardly anything. We gathered together that evening, just before a new year. The energy and excitement was tangible and I can't remember ever being more full of joy than when I read the words, "You have been called to labor in the Taiwan Taichung mission." I report to the MTC on April 28th and will be learning (continue learning actually :) Mandarin Chinese. My excitement can not be expressed through words.
Soon winter break ended for the cousins and they all went back to school. The rest of us hoodlums made a trip to Nauvoo, Illinois to see the Church history sites there. It was testimony building to walk through Carthage jail and feel the Spirit testify of the truth of the Restoration of the Church of Jesus Christ.
Reese made the sophomore basketball team and had seven games during our stay. His athleticism has improved dramatically since China and it is so fun to watch him play. They had three losses by the end of the season and two were by just one point—including the championship game.
The days were filled with simple details of life. Hair braiding lessons (or lessons in patience painfully endured as your scalp gets ripped off your head if you happened to be selected to sit in the chair of doom). The moms made medicinal tinctures with herbs and vodka much to the surprise of everyone walking into the kitchen unaware of the project underway. And we got family pictures taken thinking it would be our last time together as a family before I serve my mission.
Audrey and Paige were very motivated to help their cousin Adrienne earn enough money to order a passport. They made all sorts of things and sold them door to door. Hand warmers, scrunchies, bubble gum, flower pens, and super bowl cupcakes all amounted to a whopping $240 bucks. We are looking forward to her joining us for a few days (or weeks ;) wherever we happen to be next.
After the basketball schedule lightened up a bit we made a trip to Utah to see family and friends. Audrey and Paige did a presentation at Alpine elementary where they had previously been enrolled in the Chinese immersion program there. It was strange to drive around our old neighborhood and see how everything was more or less exactly the same. Just being there again made China feel like a wistful dream. Mom was determined, as were the rest of us, that we could not settle down again anytime soon.
The five day road trip to Utah was a whirlwind. We couldn't see everyone we had hoped to visit or run all the random errands we had anticipated. But we accomplished what was most important. We got some very longed for things out of the storage unit, visited Grandma and Grandpa Schmickrath, saw family in Idaho and got together with best friends to catch up briefly about the things life had been teaching us. It was a great trip.
By this time news of a mysterious virus outbreak in China was well established and we were paying careful attention to the seemingly hourly updates. It wasn't looking too bright.
Upon our return to Lincoln, family started pouring into town to celebrate Starla and Michael's wedding reception. All of mom's side was again reunited. We celebrated Reese's 16th birthday with the whole family in the church gym. The highlight was definitely a rock-paper-scissors tournament with a dollar on the line for every loss. It's hard to explain. Basically the winner gets everyone's dollar. Appropriately, the birthday boy won.
By the end of January the CDC were strongly discouraging unnecessary travel to China and within days our return flight was cancelled. We rescheduled it for two weeks in advance on February 11th trusting that by then things would be sorted out enough for our return. We waited in limbo, each day anxious to hear the updates but unsure if we could trust the media. We messaged our Chinese friends and members of our branch (nearly all of whom were able to make it out of China). They said to stay put, things in China were not safe. We felt uneasy about staying in Nebraska, the extra two weeks were putting us all under the impression that we were living in an eternal vacation. It was clear that we needed something different.
After much prayer, and researching as many options as we could think up, it was determined we would fly to Cabo San Lucas Mexico and stay in Sarah's (Dad's sister's) summer abode. Sarah is an ER doctor, she works part time in Texas and was planning to move with her partner Lee to Canada for the skiing season.
Things fell into place differently for me. A young mother in the ward, Erica, wanted help getting her house ready to go on the market and look after her kids while her husband was gone for three weeks at medical trainings. Starla and Michael had also commissioned me to paint the temple and generally I felt content to stay in Lincoln for a few more weeks.
For the last five days of their Lincoln stay Mom and Dad moved to the Galloway's house to hold down the fort while Suzanne and Tom went to a teachingselfgovernment parenting conference in Utah. Tickets were booked, bags were packed. All the things we had been stocking up on to take to China—the things we had been wishing we had for 15 months— were returned. Goodbyes were given. At 5 am I drove my family to the airport. I remember looking at Mom as I walked back to the car saying, "well this has never happened before!" to which she responded, "Yes, this is a time of lots of 'never happened befores'."And with that they were off.
“The measure of intelligence is the ability to change.”
― Albert Einstein