This trip started better than the last short trip to America, because I was already fat; no unkind bets about how much I would weigh when I returned. Some colleges were hosting a conference and paying for me to attend, and we thought it would be a great opportunity for JT to visit some colleges for a few days before my conference started.

We flew into Boston where my conference would start and were met by old friends from RVA who live in Boston. They took us to Harvard, where we got the grand tour from the first RVA student to be accepted there. We went back to our friends’ home, where there were more RVA friends, and the night was set to be festive.

Except that I kept falling asleep, which sort of impinged on the festivities. 24 hours straight traveling will do that to you. Most everyone there wanted to see JT anyway, so I’m not sure I was noticed or missed.

The next day we began traveling to visit colleges. We saw Dartmouth and Middlebury, both beautiful schools, and I had my first `ok I forgot; I’m back in America’ moment.

Besides Coke, which is ubiquitous, the only American thing you see a lot of is Yankee hats. Like all good Americans, I truly hate the Yankees, and try to explain to any Kenyan wearing their hat that they are in league with the Anti- Christ. Since most Kenyans don’t know anything about baseball, the only thing that they associate America with is the Yankees.

Which is really, really sad.

And so the first time I saw an African American wearing a Yankees hat in New Hampshire and tried to inform him of the horrible truth about them, he looked at me like I was a crazy person, and walked rapidly away. It is my hope that he came under conviction and went looking for a Cubs hat to purchase, but one never knows.

We visited Bates, Colby, and Bowdoin in Maine the next day, and just had a wonderful Easter Sunday visiting schools and eating junk food. We found a hotel, and got ready for the last day we spent in the NE before we started flying on some stand -by tickets a friend from church obtained for us.

The next morning we visited Amherst and Williams, which are worth a visit if you are ever in western MA, and then our troubles began.

I had planned this trip so carefully. I had plotted mileage between schools, gotten nice cheap hotels, and everything was perfect.

Except for one thing.

That darn Boston Marathon. I had somehow forgotten to plan for the Boston Marathon, which is akin to forgetting that Christmas is in December. It is the biggest event of the year in Boston.

We had a borrowed car which we needed to return, and then we were going to call a cab to get to our hotel.

As luck would have it, I missed the turn off three times, and ended up in someone’s driveway who drove us over to our friends home and dropped off their car. We asked them to call us a cab because we didn’t have a cell phone which worked in America.

Then our troubles began.

I didn’t call to confirm our room, and we got to the hotel at 6:20. They had given away our room. When I asked for another, the guy at the desk laughed at me and said `Do you take stupid pills? You can’t get a hotel room in Boston on Boston Marathon day.’

Our cab driver, an interesting sort, drove us to hotels until we found one that would have us. I can’t tell you the cost, because the thought of it still makes me weep. But there was a silver lining; it was downtown Boston, and JT told me he had never been in a big city overnight in a hotel. So we walked around Boston and had a great meal and just enjoyed being together.

Which was good because if we didn’t enjoy being together, we would have killed each other the next day. Standby tickets are tricky; you get on a flight if there is room, and everyone in the universe was trying to get out of Boston.

We left the hotel at 4am and got to the airport at 4:30 and waited to get on a flight. We got on the last flight out of Boston at 8pm, which meant a day of visiting colleges and grandparents in Chicago got shot. What made it fun was JT; it might have been discouraging to be in the US for only a short time and spend one of the few days in an airport. Every time we got bumped to the next flight, he would turn to me and say `We ROCK.’

We did make the first flight to Texas and the next day’s flight to NC with no problems, which meant JT could eat Texas food and see his old classmates. In NC, he got to see his Aunt and Uncle, who were extremely kind and generous to him.

We flew back to Boston and arrived at 9am. JT had a flight that night out around 8pm, so we had a day to kill in Boston. My conference started on Sunday, and they were nice enough to give me a hotel on Saturday, so we dropped our stuff off and went to explore.

The Broadway show Wicked was playing, and it is a favorite CD of ours, so we thought that it would be fun to see the matinee. We went to the box office and were told that it was sold out for six months, but there would be a lottery for a few tickets at noon. We walked around Boston, and came back to put our names in.

And so did four hundred other people. They picked six names, and JT’s name was the last name picked. They sold us two second row tickets for $25.00. The guy next to me, when we were seated told me :

Guy in Seat Next to Me: I paid $190.00 for my tickets; what did you pay?
Me: I heard it is a great show! (Why ruin his day)

It was a sign to us of His blessing in ways we never expected, but will never forget. The whole trip was that for me; how often do you get to spend 12 days with just your 17 year old son? I think we are a close family, but he is so busy with rugby and jazz band and classes and his coffee house.

I will always be grateful to be able to have those days. I thought it would be hard to put him on a plane for him to go by himself all the way back to Kenya.

There was part of me that was sad when he walk to the gate. But I was so grateful for the time, and so proud of what he has become, that I was too happy to be sad.

The rest of the trip was great, with a superior conference, good visits with lots of friends, and no sleep, but it paled in comparison to the 12 days with my son.

I’ll be grateful for the rest of my life for that time. And I didn’t gain a pound; I maintained.

Your pal