Red Herring

I am sitting at the Dubai Airport right now, waiting to board a plane first to London, then nonstop to Raleigh Durham. I probably won’t be able to post this for awhile. I am feeling quite a bit of anticipation as I am quite smug with myself. Jennifer has been begging me to come home just for a weekend as she misses me so. I keep telling her, I can’t, Im too busy, we have lots of projects. All of that is true, but she is such a priority for me, and I do miss her terribly. I was able to schedule a quick week long excursion to the U.S. My visitor visa for the UAE expires every 30 days, so I have to make an international trip somewhere. Might as well go back to the U.S. Jennifer, if you know her, is incredibly smart and pretty darn sneaky. She prides herself on never being surprised. So she has no idea that I am coming so she’s never going to be able to use that never word ever again. I have had the trip booked for a couple of weeks now. I have thrown plenty of red herrings her way. She thinks Im on a scouting trip to Abu Dhabi and the desert. I even blogged about it yesterday just to solidify her non-suspicion. So I apologize if I led you readers astray as well. Since Jennifer looks at my bank statements, I couldn’t put the ticket on the credit card. So instead I used my mom’s card. Don’t worry Shari and Kristen, Im going to reiumburse her as soon as I surprise Jennifer. I am pretty excited to see her face. Just the look of shock will be nice. I do have a decision to make. Jenny works weird hours. She gets to her office around 11 or 12 and leaves at 6 or 7. My plane arrives RDU at 4:00 PM. So I have to figure out how to wait for 3 or 4 hours and then nab her at home. Im writing this so you can feel the anticipation with me. I’ll post the results of the surprise tomorrow.

The flight is only about 20 hours. I say only, but Im more than accustomed to it by now. In fact, I enjoy long flights. I think because I know that Im called to be here, that God equips me with what I need not only to survive but to thrive. It is about $500 cheaper to fly through London, than it is to fly through to NY. I can make it to RDU with only one connection. My flight to London is 8 hours. My layover in London is 4 hours and then it’s a direct flight to RDU which is another 8 hours. Not sure when I should sleep, it’s 2:00 am as Im writing this. I was a little bummed at first. I bought my ticket to come home around eid. I bought it through expedia because it was so much cheaper. I was able to book it through Emirates, which is great since Im a gold class member. That means I get to hang out in their business class lounge. But my partners thought I should leave and come back earlier as our productions are starting to heat up. So I changed it, but then I was flying through American instead of Emirates. I love Emirates, its like business class even in their coach seats. They have hundreds of hours of entertainment…literally. American Airlines, Im not so much of a fan. But I like that they have a direct flight from LHR. So I can live with it. With the change of plans, I also thought I’d lost out on the lounge access. When I had a Citibank card in Bahrain, I was able to qualify for something called a Priority Pass which gets me access to over 600 lounges in terminals throughout the world. I didn’t think it was a big deal, since it was free. But my friend Darren told me it is indeed a big deal since he pays a lot of money for his card. So I was able to find a lounge here in Terminal 1 at DXB and had a great meal…for free. It’s a shame Im not much of a drinker (I say that in jest) because of all the free alcohol available. Since I don’t drink I miss out on that particular perk…but really Im not missing out at all.

There is another lounge at Heathrow I can go to. This one has a shower which is a nice perk. I am just feeling very blessed right now. But I’ve said this before and I’ll say it again, its really nothing Im doing. Im just being faithful to God and he is being faithful to me. He is putting me in unique circumstances where I will be able to succeed. I am sooo fortunate. I’ll let you know how the surprise goes with Jennifer tomorrow. I can’t decide if I just want to live the moment, or record the moment to share with you. Maybe I can try to do both. Happy 15^th Birthday to Max Beeman…I love and miss you very much.