This is the true tale of two women; Marj, my sister-in-law, and her friend Debbie. Sorry Marj, but it is too good of a story not to share, especially for those who know these women.
Recently at their church they studied the book “Radical” by David Platt. At the end of the study they were challenged to do something out of their “comfort zone.” Marj, Debbie, their husbands, and several others from their church decided to go to Costa Rica on a service project.
They flew on a small prop plane from Pensacola to Miami. Marj is not a seasoned flier and told Rich, “Do not lose me at the airport.” They had a tight flight schedule so while the men were waiting to retrieve the luggage from the bottom of the plane Marj and Debbie made a quick run to the “little girls room”. Mission accomplished they went to meet the men at the terminal gate as agreed.
The men were not there so they sat down at gate D5 and waited. Still no men. Finally their cell phone rang, “Where are you? They are calling for you over the intercom and it is the last boarding call.” Oh, no! The correct gate was E5.
Immediately Marj and Debbie took off in a mad dash through the terminal (D5 was all the way at the end of the concourse), down the escalator, onto the tram, up the escalator and down through the terminal. But Marj had one problem. Because the men were trying to collect and gather all the luggage, she took Rich’s backpack filled with books with her. She discovered it is very difficult to run with a heavy backpack of books on your back. Debbie took her turn and huffing and puffing they got to gate E5 just in time to wave goodbye to the plane backing away from the gate with their men on board.
Now from the men’s end of the drama… They did not want to get on the plane without their wives so the airline personal let them stay off as long as possible but finally they told them they would have to board or they would sell their seats. Knowing the women were almost there they boarded but then the airline sold the women’s seats and the doors closed. The men were stuck with “strangers” in their wives seats.
Marj said she would have been frantic if Debbie hadn’t been with her. The airline booked them on the next flight out to San Jose. It wasn’t long until another member of their group showed up. He was flying in from Delaware and got detained in Baltimore. So now they were a group of three.
When they got to San Jose the men checked in with the airline and learned that their wives were only 1-1/2 hours behind. The women were relieved to find them waiting for them and some of their luggage that had not yet arrived.
Marj said the whole trip accomplished it’s intended purpose well. Not only did it start out of her comfort zone, she had to paint and varnish the whole time they were there which was something she was not fond of or had done much of. And it was also hot, very hot with no air-conditioning, and most of the time they were drenched with sweat and stinky!
The two days before they came home they did some sightseeing and one of the things they were scheduled to do was a zip line over the rain forest. She was not thrilled about this prospect but was assured another option was a gondola. When the bus was almost to the zip-line the driver asked who was doing the gondola. Marj was the only one who raised her hand. She was not leaving the group all by herself so she was stuck-zipping at neck-break speed down the mountain high above the trees. She said she never saw the view the others talked about-you can’t when your eyes are closed!
