Almost There

It's been a long couple of days so far, yet traveling has been pretty easy. On the flight from Los Angeles to Sydney I had a window seat and an elderly gentleman was on the end. The person who was supposed to have the middle seat didn't show. John, the man on the end, and I got to talking and he told me he was originally from Sydney, but two of his children live in the U.S. He told me he and his wife visit once a year, but this year they were visiting twice, they're coming back for Christmas and staying 5 months.

Once we were in the air he asked me what I was doing in Australia and while I was amazed at how much he and his wife travel, he was really amazed that I was studying abroad. He talked about the greatness of America in being able to do whatever you want. He said whatever you set your mind to you can do, especially for women. John told me I could have a part in making the trip to Sydney take 2 hours, find a way to safely reach another universe, and anything I wanted to do I could do it. He was pretty amusing. He talked about freedom and opportunity and all the while I kept thinking about what he had told me about himself and the things he had been free to do. He went to University in Sydney, but dropped out to join the Air Force, met his wife on a trip to the U.S. and lived in New Jersey at a yacht club. He was very interesting and he was very encouraging about my traveling even though we'd just met.

At 81 years of age I hope John and his wife will be able to continue to visit his children in the years to come. I'm interested to see how his opinion of America differs from people's opinions my age. Just the last 3 hour flight left and I'll be in Adelaide ready to jump into whatever Lutheran Community Care has in store for me!