An Untold Story

The other night Chris and I were talking about moving out here, and the amount of work it took to just get us here. That lead our conversation into how much we love living here. We talk almost everyday about how much we like living cross-culturally and getting to know the Khmer people in our day to day. But back to the first part of the stress and work it took us to get on the plane and move to Asia. The months before departure where full of preparation tasks and thoughts of "what will our life look like." The days before departure were full of emotional swings of "I just can't wait to go" and many tear-filled byes to our loving family and friends. I think back to the day we left and saying bye to our parents at the airport and how surreal that day was, and how hard that was on my emotions.

So now for the untold story...I threw up on the flight over here! Not once, but twice. When we got our first (of many) airline meal, I thought "you know what I am going to have a celebratory glass of wine for the excitement of moving to Phnom Penh." I don't know if it was the wine at 20,000 feet, the emotions I was going through that morning, or the anxiety of what was ahead, but the combo of the three made for an interesting flight. Just for future reference, I would not recommend to anyone who is moving to Asia to have a glass of wine on the plane, it obviously did not turn out well. I tell this story because as we talk about our life here, we talk about it in ways that are full of joy and peace in knowing that God is using us here, and still has big things in store for us over the next 20 months. I tell it because all that anxiety and stress is now gone, and we feel very confident in where God has us. So I guess this would be the more appropriate time to have the celebratory glass of wine...

There is a student back in Boulder, CO that I have come to know pretty well over the past 4-5 years since I met her when she was a freshman. She always asks me if I have gotten sick out here, and I always respond with, "Not yet." So, yes Melissa I have thrown up, two times, and it was on day one!