Home Sweet Home

Sometimes there’s a surprise silver lining, as there was for Michael & me in the midst of needing to leave Ecce Homo and Jerusalem two weeks before originally scheduled. A fellow volunteer, Gylan, a seminarian from Malta, was called back to Malta early. Our flights would be March 17 at similar times. We reserved a 4:30 a.m. taxi to Tel Aviv together, with a very dependable driver named Magid, who was happy for the work, as tourism has come to a standstill.

Mike thought we’d breeze through the Old City, but we were amazed at how many cars and people Magid had to weave through, as Muslim worshipers were up early to pray.

At Ben Gurion Airport, we parted ways with Gylan for different security lines. Walking through the terminal later, we were delighted to see Gylan again, just before he boarded his plane, which had only FOUR passengers. We were glad to be able to say goodbye to Gylan, a fine young man, one more time.

In contrast to Gylan’s sparcely filled plane, our El Al flight to London was packed! We think our Boeing 787 must have had its full capacity of 242 people. LOTS of Hasidic Jews trying to find overhead space for their hats, and LOTS of young families with crying babies. They all seemed to be in the last 1/3 of the plane, where we were. Watching their challenges was more entertaining than the movies offered.

Boarding

Disembarking

Onward from London’s Heathrow to Chicago, on British Airways.

Over Canada

At Chicago’s O’Hare, we had a smooth process as workers pointed infrared thermometers at the foreheads of us arriving passengers to test for fever/possible coronavirus. We both passed with flying colors (no pun intended) at 97.7 degrees each. We were given papers from the CDC to record our temps morning and evening for the next 2 weeks.

There were only 17 passengers on our American Airlines flight to Charlotte.

Less than two hours later, it was good to see the lights of Charlotte.

We arrived at Charlotte about 12:30 a.m. and slept in the Quality Inn near the airport, about 27 hours after we got up at 3:30 a.m. in Jerusalem.

Our son-in-law Erron’s parents, Sue & Joe, had been housesitting for us during our 2 and 1/2 months away. They got to enjoy more grandparent time than usual, and a milder winter than their Nebraska’s. They graciously brought us our car. We had a short conversation but  kept our social distance, Mike & I by a second-floor railing, Sue & Joe in the parking lot. Mike & I stocked up on groceries on the way home to our self-imposed quarantine.

Our luggage didn’t arrive with us. My suitcase was found and delivered later, American is still looking for Mike’s.

We’re trying to maintain the Ecce Homo healthy lifestyle, including walking and weeding, and I made lentil soup with lots of veggies.

We plan to continue this blog. We have more photos, short videos, and stories to share.

FYI, if you’d like to listen to calming classical music during this anxious time, you can stream wdav.org out of Davidson, NC, as we did in Jerusalem, and as we listen to at 89.9 FM daily.

Love & prayers,

B.J. & Michael