The night I walked into a complete stranger's home at 2 am

No, silly.  I wasn't breaking and entering.  I was on a huge adventure in the middle of the night with a woman I had just met at gate A10 while she and I were both in tears over missing a flight.  

Let me back up and tell you this.  My poor husband had been holding down the fort at home while I spent the week in Haiti.  Three of the six kids had come down with strep throat, the car was in the shop, work was crazy, and clearly it was time for me to be home.  I was due to arrive about 9:30 that evening, but as I was waiting my departure in the Port-Au-Prince airport, I received an email notifying me of a delay in my first flight.  No biggie, I thought.  Should still have plenty of time to make it thru immigration and customs before my next flight.  I sent Jeremy a "heads up", just in case.  His irritation was apparent: 

He was joking of course, but it was clear I HAD to be at home ASAP! 

Well, as you know by now, I DID end up missing my connecting flight.  Despite my best efforts (which included dashing through immigration, yelling at the baggage guy because my bag was taking for-freaking-ever to come down the chute, setting the world record for quickest denial of contraband in customs, sending my bag rolling on its wheels to the baggage re-check guy, pushing some dude out of the way in security, and sprinting from the E terminal all the way to the A terminal in Atlanta airport IN BARE FEET), I arrived just moments AFTER they closed the door.  And then it happened--the ugly cry.  I knew the next flight home wasn't until the next day at 11:20 am.

As I was trying to compose myself, another breathless woman arrived at the desk, just moments too late, and she also began to cry.  We clicked immediately.  In a rapid-fire Q&A session, I learned that she also lived in Fayetteville and hadn't seen her family for three weeks.  We both HAD.TO.GET.HOME.TONIGHT!!   I offered to rent a car and drive the 10 hours home to Fayetteville with her, but first we checked the departures screen for other options--was there a flight to Tulsa?  Fort Smith?  Springfield?  Oklahoma City?  Anywhere closer to home than Atlanta would work.  

Mercifully, there was a flight leaving in 20 minutes to Memphis and the gate was also in the A terminal.  We sprinted again, and breathlessly begged the gate agent to get us on that plane!  After jumping through a few mandatory and irritating hoops, we made it on that plane just as they were closing the door.  It then dawned on me that I still didn't know her name, so we quickly introduced ourselves as we boarded that plane as a team!  Memphis was closer to home than where we were, but was still going to be a 5 hour drive to home sweet home.  We resigned ourselves to renting a car and driving all night.  

As the plane was departing, my new friend hollered to me that she had miraculously worked out our transportation--her parents were coming to Memphis from Little Rock and would take us back to their house, where her husband, who had driven down from Fayetteville, would be waiting to pick us up.  Apparently, he was as desperate as my husband for some smooches!  We both laughed that we were living the real life version of "Planes, Trains, and Automobiles"!  

We arrived in Memphis and I learned my travel companion was an Entomologist--cool, huh?!  We bonded over discussing mosquito borne illnesses in Caribbean countries and I got an awesome lesson in all-natural alternatives to Deet.  Our chariot arrived (a Chevy pick-up) and I was greeted by her father with a big bear hug.  He drove us back to their home in North Little Rock where we met her husband and switched cars.  At 2:00 a.m., we set out for the last leg of our trip as the car headed west down I-40.

I was in and out of consciousness on that three hour drive--I was just so tired!  I had been awake for >24 hours, had not had a real meal all day long, and I truly stunk from sitting in airports and airplanes all day.  I imagine if my new friend was writing her experiences in a blog, she might entitle it "The night I drove a stinky, grouchy, semi-conscious stranger to her home in Northwest Arkansas." 

We pulled into east Fayetteville right at 5 a.m., and by that time I was feeling motion sick.  I didn't have the heart to tell my sweet chauffeur who had transported me clear across the state of Arkansas that I was about to hurl in their back seat.  I managed to hold it together until we met up with Jeremy in a gas station parking lot.  

I wanted to tell her so much more than I did at our parting hug.  (frankly, if I had opened my mouth, it was gonna be ugly). I wish I could have told her how truly I appreciated her hospitality.  I wanted to share with her how much Jesus loves her and how God had provided through her and her family.  

As I finally fell into my bed as the sun was rising, I reflected over the past 24 hours.  I had started the day in the land I passionately love, ended it in my home with my family I passionately love, and all along the way in between, God had protected and provided for me.   

Lesson learned--sometimes we encounter detours in life.  But God sends unexpected helpers to share the journey with.  So thankful to have made a new friend on this grand adventure!