I am grateful this evening for the anticipation of home. It has been a long two weeks – long, but good. Our last flight of the day just left Seattle headed for Kansas City, and home is the next stop.

As the plane left the ground, my head was on Sam’s shoulder and his hands covered mine in a safe grasp. I couldn’t help but thank God for this man who is my best friend in life, who is the best travel partner, who looks out for me and is ever so conscious of my feelings, needs, desires, and happiness.

I am grateful for the diverse people we met in the last two weeks – new friends from Texas and California and Wisconsin and Washington and Michigan and Alaska – and young kids and other adults who are seeing the world and serving vacationers through summer jobs, from Lithuania and Serbia and Yugoslavia and China and Jamaica and Turkey. What a great big wonderful world we live in, and what incredible people God has placed in our path…

I am grateful for housekeeping staff mistakes that made us angry enough to complain last night. Our sheets were “used” when we checked in to our hotel room on Friday and again yesterday. We had to make a few calls in order to get clean sheets. The young lady who finally showed up at our door last night was so apologetic even though it was not her fault. Her name is Bojana from Serbia. She is 19 years old and is in school studying for an IT degree and so very grateful to be in Alaska for her second summer. If it had not been for the mistake of the day shift, we would not have met this adorable young lady who leaves in ten days to drive further into Alaska with a friend to explore “this beautiful country” before heading back home overseas.

Bojana said something quite profound to us as she tucked sheets and stuffed pillows into clean cases. We asked her if she had experienced mostly kindness from Americans or if she had also come across those who were less than gracious. She quietly responded that it was a mix of both, that when some people hear her strong accent, they dismiss her and have even told her to go back to her own country. Sam quickly apologized for the lack of understanding, and she said, “It’s okay. We all can learn from each other. We all need to listen more.”

One thing I love about my best friend is the fact that he listens more than he shares. I think he would love nothing more than to share his thoughts and his journey and appreciates when others inquire, but he knows the value of doing the inquiring – sometimes you don’t learn from others unless you ask. If you don’t open the door for someone to share their story, you miss out on an unforgettable experience.

This morning as we sat in the airport and watched a few service workers cleaning the waiting area, Sam quietly said, “How many people walk by and never acknowledge their service or ask their story?” They are the invisibles who make our world full and amazingly colorful.

We witnessed travelers and vacationers these past two weeks who were content to experience Alaska all by themselves, walled off and solitary, or only open to being amongst their own. Many of them were the ones who complained A LOT and needed to be first in line to get the best seats. Some were either GBS (grouchy but silent), or GAV (grouchy and vocal). But we also witnessed those who took advantage of the opportunities to learn from others and enlarge their circle, and that was probably my favorite part of the trip.

We are going home very tired. We have a long couple of weeks ahead of us, too. As I sit in this middle seat tonight waiting on the drink cart to roll past, I could easily allow myself to become overwhelmed with the details, the schedule and the rest of 2017. That would be my choice, to allow the overwhelm. But instead, I will end this trip of a lifetime by thanking God:

• For Alaska.
• For Stefan from Serbia, our waiter at The Pumphouse.
• For an all day gold panning/transcontinental pipeline/riverboat/Athabaskan excursion yesterday that neither of us wanted to go on, but ended up being a great day and lots of fun. And, we panned $42 worth of gold! Yee haw.
• For Sam’s shoulder and the back rub he gave to me as we waited to board the plane.
• For beautiful Alaskan and Washington mountains.
• For shuttle rides.
• For pictures of our manicured lawn and for Paul who manicured our lawn in preparation for company this week.
• For a successful first experience with Lyft, like Uber, but different.
• For two suitcases that barely made the 50 pound weight limit, AND for some unknown reason, were free of any charges on our return home!
• For ice cold Alaska water from a faucet.
• For my dad. I miss him and love him so very much.
• For smoked and really salty almonds and biscotti crackers for dinner tonight.
• For guys who are adults but obviously think they are cool young bucks who wear massive headphones in airports and look really really funny. They are similar in comedy to guys who are adults but obviously think they are cool young bucks who wear ball caps backwards or ball caps with straight bills and call their caps “lids.” Puh-leaze.
• For an email song from soon-to-be-author Linda that made us smile. Softly and tenderly Smith Center is calling, calling for us to come home… Funny thing is, Sam and I had just sung that song in its original form, in one of the hotel rooms this week, harmonizing together, so it was fresh on our minds.
• For people who travel with dogs, especially little fluffy dogs. The world is a better place when adorable-ness with a wagging tail struts along in a sea of people and bags on wheels.
• For the privilege of meeting Iditarod winner Susan Butcher’s husband and hearing the story of Granite, her lead dog.
• For a return to quiet flushing. Seriously, Alaskan toilets are anxiety-inducing and about as effective as defibrillators.
• For my sister. She makes me so proud.
• For text messages from a few friends along the way wondering how things are going.
• For Jen Hatmaker who makes me laugh out loud on an airplane.
• For airplanes withOUT turbulence, please.
• For sweet reminiscing on the riverboat cruise about Paul Harvey – “now you know the REST of the story,” and, “…goood DAY!”
• For the feeling of taking shoes off after wearing them all the day long.
• For anticipation of seeing six grandchildren in two more days. First time in three years that I will have seen all of my grandchildren within a three week period.
• For Psalm 121.
• And for Kansas, home sweet home.