Day 213 Full circle

It has been a very quick week, and another 15k+ miles are logged on the credit card. It will be at least a week of interrupted, screwed up sleep as I try to get my body clock set to Beijing yet again.  Last night I was wide awake from 1:30-3:30am, then I cursed my alarm when it went off at 6:00am.  Such is life, I guess. I am convinced that grief, coupled with world wide travel, will age a person.  Today I feel especially old.

Let me back up, and try to play catch up.  In spite of returning to the States for the burial of Grandma, there were many highlights to the journey.  These first few 'airplane pictures' are for my little buddy Tayte, and his little buddy Simon :)

For the first time ever, I flew DragonAir out of Beijing.  Tayte, how cool is
it that I got to fly on a plane with a red dragon on its tail?!

It was also pretty exciting to fly in to Hong Kong for the
first time.  I get excited every time I see boats in the water :)
I will admit though, we came in so low, it looked like
we were going to land IN the water.  At the last second, a
strip of land appeared out of nowhere.  The airport was literally
built into its own island (maybe it was a giant landfill?)

So far, Hong Kong looks interesting, there's mountains!
Sadly, though, the pollution seems as bad, or worse, than Beijing :(

I burst into the biggest grin when I saw this plane as we taxi'ed to the gate.
GOD BLESS THE U.S.A.!  Yay for our military!!!!

My headmaster, Betty Wu, was in Macau when she emailed me granting
permission for me to make the quick trip to Texas.  I didn't know where
Macau was until I walked in to the Hong Kong airport.  Now I know!
I think I want to come back. Anyplace that requires me to take a ferry
to go see it sounds like my kind of place :)

As we left Hong Kong, bound for Dallas, I snapped this pic for Tayte-
he loves ALL planes :)

I flew a different direction home yet again.  I have flown north west, over Russia
and near the Arctic Circle, down through Canada, and home.  I have flown to
the east, through the Middle East, and home.  This time, since I was already
south, I flew almost due west ALL THE WAY across the Pacific Ocean!

I looked at nothing but blue water for over 10 hours.  It was still crazy to think
that crossing the Pacific is about 10 hours by plane, but it is 30 days or
more by sailboat- depending on the wind and weather.  That's a lot of blue!

Close to 15 hours later, we were flaps down, coming in for
a landing in Dallas, Texas.  If I didn't know any better I would
have thought I was back in Beijing, looking at the sky :/
Fortunately, by the third airplane, I was in McAllen,
Texas, where it was sunny blue skies and 85 degrees :)

The following day, Len flew in from Florida.  I picked
him up in Harlingen, and we took a detour in to
Progreso, Mexico, on our way back to Mission, Texas.

I was on a mission from Mission!  Grandma and Grandpa always loved
going to Garcia's in Progreso, Mexico, to have dinner and margaritas.
Most of the old folks in south Texas go to Mexico to get their hair cut,
have dental work done, pick up their prescriptions, and buy liquor
and cigarettes.  Not much has changed- all Mexicans or old Caucasians
were in Progreso, lol.  Here's to ya', Grandma! 

On Sunday, there was a service held in Indiana.  By Monday, I had errands
to take care of for Grandma's arrival in Texas.  I went to the funeral home to
be assured that someone would be at the airport to pick her up later that day.
I ordered flowers for the following morning, signed a bunch of papers, and
then delivered them to the cemetery, so that they had the orders for her
interment on Tuesday.  I then went to find their headstones- I couldn't
believe how much the cemetery had grown over the years.

Late in the day, we went to the McAllen airport to pick up
my big brother, Kent :)   I <3 him so much.

We went to dinner, and of course, had a margarita for Grandma.
Here's to ya', Grandma!  It was enjoyable to hear all the stories told
from Grandma's funeral in Indiana.  Kent and I also did our share of
reminiscing over dinner.  It was really good- so many good memories
of our grandparents.  They were a HUGE influence in our lives, and
we were incredibly blessed to have them in our lives for 50+ years.

After dinner, though it was starting to get dark, we went by Grandma and
Grandpa's place on Evergreen Court.  I had found it earlier in the day.
I have pictures of  Grandma pushing each of my girls in the stroller
on this front sidewalk.  They loved when Grandma took them on
stroller rides; she would walk for exercise 2-3 times a day.

All of the great grand kids remembered swimming in the
pool at Grandma's place.  One of my favorite photos of
Emily is of her clinging to the strap of my swimsuit in
this pool when she was about a year old.  Kent and I had
a good laugh when we peeked over the fence at the pool-
it was SO SMALL!  Many backyard pools are bigger, lol.

The following day was Grandma's graveside service.

It was just the three of us there.

Kent conducted the service, and it was perfect :)  I had Texas yellow
roses on her casket as she did for Grandpa and Dad.  The three red
roses were for each of them- Mother, Father, and their only child, my dad.

And as we did for the two before her, we went to the Rio Grande River to
put roses in the water. 

Kent did a beautiful job, once again.  Dad died first, when

I was 18, on March 19th.  Three years later, when I was 21,

Grandpa died on March 17th.  And when I got the news at
school last week on March 19th, I realized that back in Indiana
 it was still March the 18th there.  When that realization hit me,
 I broke down at my desk.  It couldn't have happened any

other way- Grandma passed between to two most important

men in her life.  It was His perfect plan, if you ask me.

The circle was complete.

After the trip to the river, since we were close by, we went to the
old mission, how Mission, Texas, got her name.  Kent and I, and
our families, have been there several times.  It was a favorite
place that Grandma and Grandpa liked to go for a picnic in the park.

Kent signed the registry in the chapel, in their memory.  It was not irony
that the Bible on the alter was open to Isaiah, a scripture that my nephew
Kevin had shared at Grandma's funeral just days before in Indiana.
It was His perfect plan, once again :)

We took a walk about the gardens, 

and before we left, Kent rang the chapel bell three times.
We were finished.  Both of us came to do what we
had always promised Grandma, that we "would see
it through to the end."  We did, and it was bittersweet.

I loved the motel we stayed at- I started my days with a Texas sized waffle :)

When I took Kent to the airport, I promised him I would go to Padre Island.
It was another trip we always made when we visited Grandma and Grandpa.
We would spend the day at the beach.  Of course, it is all built up now,
but on the north end of the island it is still like it was in the 'old days'
when you could drive your car right out on to the beach. 

A front was moving in, and I nearly froze to death, but
I was determined to put my feet in the water, and pick
up a seashell.  I don't know when I will ever be back,
and I have many, many happy memories at Padre.
(That's a Portuguese Man o' War in the foreground-ouch!)

And for Kent, I stopped at Blackbeard's, where he often went to dinner when he
visited Padre.  My memory was of Louie's Backyard, which is still there, too.

The rain cleared up and we had time on our hands, so we
drove south through Brownsville to Matamoros, Mexico.
A local taxi picked us up, 'mi amigo, Antonio', and he
was our personal tour guide for a couple of hours.  This
was taken on the town square, where they gather each
weekend for music and dancing.  I love that about the
Mexican culture.  I remember being younger and going
to Mexico with Grandma and Grandpa- I always ran
out on to the square and danced with the locals :)

I don't remember the name or the significance of this statue.
What I do know is it was a good thing we had our friend, Antonio,
with us.  Trip Advisor has Matamoros under a safety and
security alert.  No wonder we didn't see any other Caucasians!
I was disturbed to have read that in November 2013, it was the
bloodiest day of gang violence when 13 people were shot and killed.
My mother would have had a fit if she knew I was there!!!
I will say, we were not approached by beggars in Matamoros
like we were in Progreso.  I never felt unsafe while we were there.
Antonio must have made all the difference :)

Antonio took us to the one bright spot in Matamoros,
the Cathedral that has been lovingly restored. He was
very proud of it, and the church's bell from the 1800's

We went inside, and I joined the few locals gathered there and said a prayer for Grandpa, Grandma, and Dad.

Antonio took us through the church and introduced us to San Charbel,
on the left, the patron Saint of miracles.  People write their prayers
for a miracle on the ribbons, and drape them over his arms.  Interesting.

More weather was moving in, and it was time to bid our
goodbyes to Antonio and make our way back across the bridge.
Thank you, God, for a safe passage :))))

I don't know if and when I will ever be in the Rio Grande Valley of south Texas ever again.  I will say this, I was flooded with such good memories, so it was very healing to have gone back.  It was a whirlwind trip, both physically and emotionally exhausting, but it was the right call.  I am so grateful to Betty and BNDS for granting me the leave to make this trip.  Family is very important, most important, in the Chinese culture, so she was very understanding of my need to go.  I came full circle with my childhood, my past, and my family this trip.   Full circle feels good, y'all :)