I flew to Tallahassee with a lot of sadness about leaving, but also a lot of excitement to surprise my mom. I never told her I was coming to the US, she thought I was going straight from Korea to New Zealand. In fact, my original plan was to go straight to NZ, but I found a pretty cheap flight and I really missed home, so I changed plans. It was so hard to keep it from her. I told the rest of my family, one because I had to tell somebody and two because I needed their help in planning. My dad contacted my aunt so that we could go down to her beach house for a few days. I got my brother to make me mom plan a visit down to see him at just the time I'd be around. And my sister, the thing that made it complete, surprised my mom as well by flying from California for a weekend so that the whole family was together for the first time in a long while. Just to make sure everything worked out, I even emailed my mom's boss to make sure she could get some time off in the 3 weeks I was home. Lastly, I even sent my mom a fake flight iteneray to NZ, so she wouldn't have a clue.
So, my flight came in at about 9pm and I got my friend Kate to pick me up from the airport. Despite a short delay because my bags were still in Texas, we rushed home. I had expected the doors to be locked and everyone to be asleep by 10:30pm, but it wasn't quite like that. The door was unlocked so I walked right in. My dad had fallen asleep watching TV in the living room. I didn't wake him because I didn't want my mom to hear. I walked down the hall as giddy as I could be and....well....check out the video!!
I was home for about 3 weeks in which I got to see a lot of people I wanted to. I made it to Gainesville, to the beach, saw friends and family. Pretty much perfect. Becca came for my last weekend in Florida and we flew to San Fransisco together. I brought all my luggage for NZ with me because I flew form San Fran to NZ after a 5 day stop over. This was my second visit out there, but my favorite.
We did some of the touristy things of course, like touring Alcatraz and watching the seals on the pier. I also got a free pass to the aquarium bec works in. Cool gator isn't it.
We rented a car for a couple days and camped out in Big Sur. We went on an awesome hike and explored some of the beaches. Before coming back we stopped in Santa Cruz where we walked the boardwalk and laid in the sand. It was such a great trip. I don't get to see becca much anymore and I forgot how fun it was to hang out with her. Made a good choice in stopping through!!
As great as it was to come home for a while, it felt strange. I seemed liked so much had changed, yet everything was still the same. It's hard to explain. I LOVED getting spoiled by my mom and dad. It was beyond words seeing my brother, sister, and niece again. And it was amazing seeing all my friends. But, I knew I wasn't ready to stay...not yet. I think that made it a little easier to head off for New Zealand. Easier doesn't mean it wasn't hard to say goodbye though. I hate goodbyes and it was as difficult as ever to leave.
No comments:
Post a Comment