Monday, 13 February 2006

hey white people.

so, here i am. sitting in atlanta. paying $8.00 to post this dern thing and to send some emails. I'm such a sucker for communication. I love being in touch with people. And i think there are lots of you out there who actually do care about these minor details of such a journey, and will appreciate the effort. Time will tell.

i've had a great morning. michelle helped me cut line at BNA and get to my plane b/c i was too busy talking to lynn and julie and when i looked at my watch it was 630 and the security line was out the door. so, thanks to mk i got on my plane. thanks, girl.

my dad and i had a wierd goodbye. sorry dad. if we weren't so alike, we might not find ourselves irritating each other so much. but i love you more than moths love ball park lights. and mom, thanks for walking me down the lobby. you'd have walked through that wall if you could.

blake swanson was on my flight to ATL. We had lunch (ok, he bought me lunch and then i hauled it to my terminal, where i am now...apparently i had that flight time wrong after all, blake. how do i travel alone and not end up in antartica?) I'm playing the passport game, just for your comfort. I think every one of you asked me where it was last night or this morning. So, i do the following:

"Ashley, where's your passport?" Then i give myself 3 tries. If i get it the first time, I nod my head lightly and smile like I'm listening to a really good rap song. If I get it the second time, I kinda pull my upper lip into my nose and fight off being critical that I didn't get it right the first time. If I get it the third time, I have a mini-panic attack. It should not take me 3 tries to learn my lesson.

Oh, here come the pilots. There they go. Off to prepare the something or other. They looked awake. They looked sober. That's all I need to know.

I'm going to go do a crossword puzzle or something. It seems like the right thing to do.

Listening to the Beatles. "HELP!" comes to mind. But that's not the song I'm stuck on!

Love to you all.

ps-- pamela just emailed me the blog for the children she basically raises in nepal. please check it out and support her. she's pretty much amazing.

6 comments:

Kara said...

I'm looking forward to these posts. I love you.

Richard D. Jenkins said...

I'm pretty excited you spent the $8.00 for the blog and e-mail time!! I'm a sucker for all the details! I'm so excited we were in your address book. I'm looking for Richard's beatles music as we speak! We love you!!
Hang in there - some of the best adventures lie in the unknown and unfamiliar even when it is wrapped in "what the hell am I doing?"

Mark Kelly Hall said...

Ashley,

I suppose you won't read this until you're there...

Glad you made it through the "dusting" of snow. I stayed in bed until about 9:30, just to be safe. Absolutely safe.

Thanks for sharing about your journey, at the luncheon at BBC yesterday. I'm a fellow recipient of Scott's "time's up" signal--SO funny that you called him on it. Glad to know he's a good steward of other people's time!

Remember that no matter how excruciatingly far you may be from those you've left behind, you're just as close in our thoughts and prayers as ever (maybe closer).

Grab a copy of James Michener's "The Covenant" when you get a chance. It's informative, and it's so big everyone will think you're a brain.

Mark

Emma said...

Oh my gosh. You are so funny. I love your passport game and getting flight times wrong. we were separated at birth, I am convinced. did I ever tell you I missed my flight home the first time from Asia? Maybe it was subconciously intentional who knows.

I watched the movie Basketball Diaries last night and I thought of your new line of work. You are going to be amazing. I know it.

Well... we are all anxious to hear about your first steps on new soil. Many blessings, friend.

Anonymous said...

MT...thanks for reaching back and saying 'Good-bye' through your blog. I could almost hear your voice. I so wanted to hear from you. Love, Gandhi

Anonymous said...

I get so lost (and hit fire hydrants) when I'm just trying to drive around Baltimore. My mom has asked me "How do you travel half-way around the world by yourself?" Plus I don't like to eat so much, so she wonders how I don't starve overseas. It's true, prayer does keep me alive and on the right planes when I'm overseas!