Inspiring encounters and peaceful cars

Have you ever imagined how your car feels at the end of a long drive? I mean after you pull into the driveway, turn the key, and just sit there for a moment. She sighs deeply as the motor slowly winds down to a stop and the gauges sink below O. In the peace that follows you realize that even on idle the car was making all of these movements and noises and efforts only now noticeable because of their absence.

That is what home feels like. From the minute my family greeted me in baggage claim with a beautiful bouquet of roses, to the opening of a care package sent by a lovely best friend, being home is like being that sighing car.

All three of the plane rides went fairly smoothly. The best part of the trip was meeting a twenty year old Peruvian girl named Andrea in the baggage check-in line, who was heading to Florida to work for four months. We spent our Panama City and Houston layovers together.

It was her first time traveling alone and out of the country, and no one was going to be there to pick her up at the Orlando airport. She was going to spend the night there and in the morning find a ride to another town where there would be an equal absence of friends and sleeping arrangements. Not to mention her English was on a basic level. Can you imagine? I can't. I had a family with flowers and I still seemed more nervous than she was.

All I can say is that it's for all the brave, ambitious, resourceful Andreas that I cannot wait to be an English as a Second Language teacher. Inspiring.

Andrea took this one after several tries in which she was unsatisfied with my photography skills.

You know you're in the States when....