2024 Off to Mexico yet again… and I’m ready to get NAKED

 

I’ve made this trip over a dozen times before, sometimes with a group of others, sometimes by myself. It’s still a very anxious feeling to wonder if I brought enough luggage or too much for my current 3 week trip. 

Will I get to the airport on time? Will I get stripped down and everything tore apart at customs? Will I be safe in Mexico? How will I get from the airport to the bus station and to the orphanage? Will I remember the kids names (cause they always ask if I remember them, oh they long to be remembered so much and it’s such a horrible feeling to tell them that I don’t remember!).

The day started pretty rough… You know that feeling you get when you finally get to the airport, you get through checking your bag, you wait in the ‘oh, this is gonna take forever’ line to go through security, then you finally arrive at the de-robing station?

You know… you’ve been there… It’s the place where you’re rushed to place your items in a bin, your mind is racing with “what else is in my bag that needs to be taken out and put in the bin”.

I think, maybe this time I can leave my shoes on… I look old, I can probably get away with it. Crap, I think… you have to be like 70 years old to leave your shoes on, I don’t look 70! I’ll just take my shoes off. This is GROSS. Why am I taking my shoes off!

As I peel yet another layer off of me that consists of a backpack, shoulder bag, hoodie, hat… I realize “there went my hearing aid”. It flies out of my ear and just disappears. I mean it’s literally gone! Is it in my hoodie… no. Is it on the floor? Yikes! There are so many people everywhere, quick… stop all people from walking in this area, look around frantically, I can’t find it! It’s only 6 weeks old, it was super expensive!

I look in the bins, I take my hand and feel around the cracks under the bin holder, EWWWW! That’s gross! (But I found a penny, oh, just leave it!) Holy crap, this was not expected… I search, and search and search and it’s just gone, disappeared, vanished!

I continue to inform the flood of people coming behind me and waiting behind me to just go around, “I’m gonna be a minute”. GREAT, now I’m that old guy in line that looks like he’s confused about what to do, I’m just looking everywhere and appear to be lost. I’m checking all my clothes yet again. Maybe I can leave my shoes on, I’m feeling that old now. Oh, this is so frustrating. I can just forget it, continue through the line and have it cost me $1,500 for another pair of hearing aids… NO WAY!

I keep looking...

It’s literally been over 5 minutes that I’ve been doing the exact same routine over and over again looking for this thing… Check my clothes, check the bin, check the floor, check my clothes, check the bin, check the floor, check the cracks in the conveyor belt, check my hair (oh wait, I don’t have hair… it can’t be there), check the floor...

I finally tell the airport employee (that is helping people with the bins) that I’ve lost my hearing aid. He says, you don’t have to take them off. Ugh, I know that! I’m intelligent enough to know that! Oh, but not intelligent enough to not pull it out of my ear when I remove my shoulder bag. I’m feeling very old and discombobulated right now.

Well, I guess it’s time to do what I always joke about. I guess I’m gonna have to take off all my clothes and GET NAKED in an attempt to find my hearing aid and go through airport security! (It seems like that would make the whole process easier and faster, but I digress) It MUST be in my clothes somewhere. As I shake my shirt and collar one more time before the drastic move, I hear it fall (I still had one hearing aid in). THERE IT IS! Oh, I’m so grateful!

Dang it, I guess I really should keep my clothes on to proceed through security.

I made is safe and sound to Mexico

20 minute taxi ride to the bus station and the day is getting long

The day is looking up, I've finally made it off the 3 hour bus ride

My friends picked me up and the fist stop was...

El Taco Loco for authentic Mexican tacos. The friends and the tacos were amazing!

Here is a recap of some of the events of the day:

I was up at 4am, arrived in Orphanage in Colima at 8:30pm.
It’s been a long day. I had choices with my attitude that I could have made all day, I could either pick the first thing or the second:
My passport is locked in the safe and I can’t get it open, got it open… crap, my passport isn’t there. 
How blessed am I that I found my passport elsewhere and that I even have one!
—
Ugh, have to get up at 4am.
So glad I had a good nights sleep and the ability to wake up when needed.
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These pushups and setups are really hard today, should I even do them?
I did my exercises and I feel fine, I’m blessed to have discipline and a body that works.
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Yuck, it’s raining like crazy and we can hardly see the lines in the road as we drive to the airport.
How awesome that my boy Chase is driving me to the airport and we made is safe and sound.
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I felt stupid and old loosing my hearing aid.
How blessed am I to even have hearing aids, how awesome that I had the patience to relax and find them. 
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The airport food is ridiculously priced, $14.00 for a sandwich, tots and coffee!
How blessed am I to have been blessed with the resources to not eat at home and buy overpriced food,.

Attitude is everything

One of the best examples of this is... If you were to enter into this world, it was pitch black and you were given a flashlight, you would have a choice as to where you shine your light. It’s important to purposefully shine it on the good, because the negative scary stuff will make your life horrible.

Today I’m blessed to have chosen the positive.

This quote flooded my mind before and during the trip:

Courage is being scared and doing it anyway.
If you’re not scared, it’s not courage. Today I chose to be courageous.

Prayer requests:

Please, please, please help me to remember the kids names. I want them to feel special.