Visit

I do stuff like… get visited in Norway by two ‘very special’ people!

The days had been counted down and I looked up at the big blue star drawn on my calendar. I was pacing around my small room, it was five hours before they were supposed to arrive and I had yet to get a confirmation email about our ride, I prayed and prayed I was just being overdramatic and that everything would work out perfectly as planned. (Which of course you’d think I know by now is never how it works). Anyway an hour before their plane came in I got an email saying, “See you soon”. My ride had been confirmed, more pointless worrying I had done and more answered prayer from the Lord.

The fifteen-minute car ride seemed like five seconds (due to engaging conversation) and when I looked up we were at the airport. I checked my watch and ran inside expecting them to be making their way out immediately. I went inside and leaned against a wall staring at the closed door that read “International Arrivals”. The doors would slide open and people would be reunited with friends and family that had been gone. I’m fairly certain they had to have been some of the last to come through the doors and when I saw them, two familiar comforting faces I couldn’t help but run to them. Three months for a baby girl not to see such influential people is a long time. My mom and sister had finally arrived in Norway! (I was of course immediately filled with sorrow that my whole family couldn’t have come however I was ecstatic to see Kat and Ken).

As you can imagine the next week accelerated by and I suddenly found myself curled up on my red futon wondering if the past few days had been real. They were in fact real; I sat and thought of memories from the time we had spent together and laughed to myself as I recalled the picnic we took on the mount and how scared Kathy was to get to the edges and how Kendra just ran around and sang and danced all over the cliff, and the random pictures that were snapped.

I thought back to our trip up to Oslo we had taken with a good Norwegian friend of mine here. How we had met new people (some not so friendly that I will leave nameless) and others very welcoming. I thought about the opportunity we had to walk on top of the new opera building in Oslo as well as visit a park that had hundreds of nude statues surrounding it. One of the highlights of the week had to have been the evening we had a lovely home cooked Norwegian meal of scaled fish and potatoes.

Recalling us lounging on the couch after dinner to unwind from the busy day and noticing something out of the corner of my eye, I remember glancing up to see a mouse, yes a real live mouse, crawling out of the ceiling, down the wall, and into an old guitar sitting on the ground. I somewhat urgently told mom to look and when she finally peeled her eyes off of her email she too saw the rodent and then Kendra; I laughed as I think back about how I made my way to the kitchen to let them know that they had a mouse in their guitar. I’m not sure how to relay that information calmly and politely. Anyway the elderly man grabbed a Kleenex and walked into the living room to get it. A Kleenex? What were you going to do with a Kleenex? Did I mention that it was alive and quickly moving? At this point I think we left and drove back in disbelief and laughter at the events of the evening. (I could recount some stories about the other house we stayed in but I’ll leave those out for now, I’m sure Kathy and Kendra would love to share them with you).

Back to now, as I remained wrapped in my comforter on my futon I glanced over at my calendar looking at the new month astonished that their visit was over. I can’t believe we’re already in April, before you know it I’ll be the one coming out the doors at the airport; however I don’t want to count down, I want to take hold of the remaining time I have here and be thankful for every moment I have left.