I’ve been in Hong Kong for quite a while now. It is a great city and I enjoy being here. However, the stress of learning a new company and airplane has certainly taken its toll on me. Training will end up being around five months, and I feel it has aged me a lot. I certainly see the affects of being gone and in the training environment for so long when I look in the mirror. I’m a family guy, and am wired to be sentimental — and one who misses home a lot. The world may call me a sissy-pants for that, but that’s okay, because that’s who I am.

More and more often while here in Hong Kong, my mind drifts back to a small town in Ohio, to a special someone who quietly awaits my return from all this training taking place half a world away. She lives in a cute little house on a cute little street in a quiet little town. We both enjoy being together and don’t like separation. This special someone could easily fall into the temptation of complaining to me to come home and forget this mess of taking a job where separation will be inevitable for the coming months.

She could ask me to come home and find a different job — one that would keep me home all the time, and if I knew she meant it, I would come home running. But see, God has genuinely blessed me “beyond all measure” and probably given me the best wife one could possibly ask for. Of all the women between Hong Kong and the U.S. (half the world) I know she would come out on top. She misses me but doesn’t complain. She wants me home, but takes care of the house by her self anyway. She feels safe at home alone, but has a shotgun under the bed anyway! She has the maturity to see that someday, the pain of being away from one another will be eased. She knows that sometimes the hard times have to be seen through to get to the better times on the other side. I love her for her courage and her willingness to hang in there through the tough times and to see them through to the end.

While I sit in my hotel room and study endless numbers, policies, procedures, and aspects of a 747 that only a pilot would care about, I close my eyes. I close them to be taken away to a place where my Sweet Pea is with me in the coolness of a fall day in Ohio. I can hear her voice and it brings comfort to my weary soul. The fall leaves twirl down over her soft curly hair and earthy sweater from B. Moss, and we can be together, alone on a walk together. There is such peace when we are together. The world can be falling apart, but when I am at home with Laura, it’s as if everything is right as rain.

With my closed eyes, I can see her, and I finally begin to appreciate the times I’ve had with her since we’ve been married. There is no joy like the joy of hearing her open the back door as she comes home from work and we can be together again for the evening. Being separated has done wonders for me to appreciate the small things in life — and the relationships — that make life what it is. The small things of simply being together, are now as precious as all the world’s riches; even life itself. To have a wife like Laura is an amazing gift from God. I don’t have a lot of money, but I am a very rich man! People don’t need money or toys or fancy cars and houses to be happy, they just need each other. One of my favorite Proverbs is 15:17 where it says, “A bowl of vegetables with someone you love is better than a steak with someone you hate.” I simply long to be able to hold her in my arms on the couch. If we were penniless and without a single possession, at least we would have each other.

As I open my eyes again, I am instantly brought back to the real world of being alone in Hong Kong. If I want to look toward home, I have to look at my feet, because this world is so huge and I’m so far away, she is actually down, not out over the horizon. This isn’t what I signed up for, is it? I close my eyes again . . .

It’s an overcast day in Ohio, as it often is in the autumn. A chill in the air says that winter and the holidays are just around the corner. Fall has to be my favorite time of year. The leaves are changing, college football, family come together for Thanksgiving and Christmas, the air is cold and crisp, the colors are amazing and bold, and Laura and I were engaged under the fall leaves in a park just a few miles from where we live — all a part of autumn. As the changing leaves sway overhead, Laura’s grandparents walk up to the front door of our house. They aren’t frequent visitors to our house, and they ring the doorbell several times because Laura isn’t expecting their visit.

I can imagine that she is in the house, thinking, “Who is ringing the front doorbell like that?” It’s a Friday night and she’s going to head out to dinner with some friends from work — uh oh, how long will her grandparents stay? Her startled voice rings out at the front door, “Hey guys, I wasn’t expecting to see you here!” Her grandpa just chuckles and says that they haven’t been up in a while and wanted to stop by. “Well I’m certainly glad to see you, come on in!” and her grandparents step inside.

Hearing her voice almost brings a tear to my eye. The air has an electric excitement about it. The cloudy sky makes the leaves in the yard look even more bold and a quick breeze rustles the leaves up to the front door. I can hardly stand it. As I hear her, I want to to run up to her and grab her into my arms and squeeze as tight as I can, not letting go. Do I dare let this moment end? Can I hold onto this excitement for ever? Do I open my eyes and make it all go away?

That same breeze blowing in the yard hits me in the face. It’s time, I tell myself. I open my eyes. I head for the front door and see her standing there in the entryway giving hugs to her grandparents. As I walk up the walkway, she catches a glimpse of me. I hear her let an “aww” escape her mouth and with tears in our eyes, we embrace. It was a hug that would last forever, and it still wasn’t long enough. The pain of being separated for so long melted away in each other’s arms. The smell of her hair, the softness of her skin, and the quiver in her voice, the sight of the living room, seeing her grandparents smiling, made it all so special to me.

You see, I was able to sneak home from Hong Kong for a few days. Some of my flying had been cancelled and Cathay offered me a chance to go home. Since it was last minute, I decided not to tell Laura and just sneak home. Her grandparents were good enough to pick me up at the airport and take me home for the surprise. I do love surprises and this was a great chance to just show up on the front steps, after traveling half way around the globe. No longer did I have to close my eyes to see my beautiful wife, at least, not this week.

What a wonderful week it was while at home . . .
I can hear her voice and it brings comfort to my weary soul. The fall leaves twirl down over her soft curly hair and earthy sweater from B. Moss, and we can be together, alone on a walk together. There is such peace when we are together. The world can be falling apart, but when I am at home with Laura, it’s as if everything is right as rain.

There is no joy like the joy of hearing her open the back door as she comes home from work and we can be together again for the evening. To have a wife like Laura is an amazing gift from God. I don’t have a lot of money, but I am a very rich man!
What a wonderful week it was while at home . . .

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