Sunsets, Speeding Cars and the Feeling of Home

City lights.

After being picked up at the airport we had to make our way back to Daegu, which is about a 2.5 hour drive from the Incheon Airport in Seoul. As we drove out of the airport and through the south part of Seoul, the sun was setting in the western sky. It lit up the sky with gorgeous pinks, oranges, blues and grays and I tried to take in as much of the city and country landscapes of this new country before it sunk completely below the horizon. I saw tall, skyscraper-type buildings, city burrows, fields of swampy grass (rice most likely) and lots of foreign signs and vehicles. The cars here are the same as in the US, for the most part, but they definitely do have a few different looking vehicles, such as vans and trucks...they are much smaller and more compact with shortened hoods. All the cars seemed to be being driven extremely fast, including ours and I felt like we were flying down the road as I tried to discern the sights around me as it continued to grow darker. Greg and his sergeant were given permission to pick up myself and the animals and had been given use of one of the vans to get us all home. The poor fur babies were tired and a little anxious, but I also know they were happy to know that they were still with both Greg and I, regardless of the plethora of events they had experienced over the last few weeks.

Surreal cityscape.

The sun eventually set and darkness settled in around us as Greg and his sergeant explained things to me and answered my questions about Korea. As we drove on, the conversation grew quite and excitement died down, my exhaustion started to come over me and I was grateful for the darkness, as it allowed me to curl up and sleep for the remainder of the drive. I know that if it had been light out, I'd have forced myself to stay awake so as not to miss any part of the drive and all the sights of the trip. But thankfully, even this seemed to be planned out perfectly in God's timing, and I was able to sleep most of the drive home and rest knowing that I was finally here and could relax and didn't have to be solely responsible anymore but had others there to help me. The most comforting thing was how Greg would occasionally reach back and hold my hand or squeeze my leg or look back and smile at me, or I'd do the same little things at different times. It was as if, logically, we knew that the other person was really there, but it'd been so long since we had been able to hold hands or be near one another and actually see the other one without an electronic screen of some sort in between us, that we still doubted it to a certain degree. So we'd reach out and make contact with the other one, insuring that they were in fact right there within arms reach. Just know that, and being able to look into their eyes and hold their hand...something happens to your heart and mind...it's hard to explain...best way is that it is a warm, safe, happy, reassuring and loving feeling. It is the feeling of finally being HOME. Even all the way across the world...with each other, we always have the happy knowledge that we are truly home.