Day One: Strange Stars

(Posted from the Johannesburg airport while wearily waiting for our hotel shuttle... If this works.)

We're high over the Atlantic and there are strange stars outside my window. Bright and different constellations are arrayed across the night sky, and I'm surprised at how unfamiliar they are.

I've spent my whole life in the northern hemisphere. I don't think I've ever realized how much the familiar northern star patterns are a background to my life. I've traveled a lot this year, but I've never once been anywhere with new stars. Even if I couldn't name the constellations above my head I recognized them. But the strange patterns of these new stars remind me that the path we're on tonight is something new.
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Morning came too early. But it came with coffee.

The alarm went off at 3:00 AM and Susan and Rob were in our driveway by 3:45. Joie, Georgia, Kaelly and Jack were up to see me off. Braden couldn't get up, so Jack and I jumped on his bed as a way of saying goodbye. My gangly almost-fourteen-year-old mumbled that he loved me and I closed the door to his room. I kissed Georgia, Kaelly, and Joie (I don't ever kiss Jack - he has dog breath) and I left.

In the car Rob offered me a big traveler mug full of very good black coffee They never do that on taxi rides. He's a saint.

The eight of us met at the airport, checked our bags, and trudged through security. The flight to Atlanta was four hours.

Michelle was looking forward to sitting and chatting with a stranger, someone new to get to know. She thought she had a perfect opportunity when she took her seat: a normal-looking man of about the same age as us was in the window. There was no one in the middle, and she was on the aisle: you couldn't find a better chatting situation than this even if you were in a salon.

But it didn't take her long to realize the poor guy was deaf. Four chatless hours for Michelle in a boring airplane... I think she was pretty disappointed.

Being much more introverted than just about anyone else on this trip, I actually think this could be a pretty handy trick for a plane ride. I made a mental note to myself to get one of Papa George's hearing aids for those long trips where I didn't really want to talk with anyone.

We're going to land in Dakar, Senegal in about 1 hour --- 17 hours after I left the house this morning. We'll stay in the plane for about an hour and a half during refueling and crew change. With any luck we'll be able to see the sun rise over Africa for the first time. Then there's one more eight-hour flight to get us to Johannesburg.

I don't know what my traveling companions are thinking under these strange stars tonight, but I'm thinking about how much I miss my family already. Hello, dear. Hello BK & G.