On Wednesday, April 30th, I set forth on a 3,000 mile journey by plane to the new and exciting land of Tennessee. My purpose for leaving? To work in the office of Nancy Campbell, editor of Above Rubies magazine. Feelings of excitement and fear of the unknown struggled for expression, resulting in a jittery / ditsy Brooke who sadly exasperated her long suffering parents."What do I do if my bags are too heavy and they won't let me take them??" and "What if the security guard refuses to believe I am under age and tries to sabotage my flight plans?" " Maybe terrorists will hi jack the air plane and dump my limp body into an arid desert. Will you guys miss me?" These questions and more plunged me into a wave of fear, and slightly disturbed my already worried parents. It was a step of faith for them to allow me, their one and only baby girl, to fly across country and stay with total strangers for two whole months. But, God's hand was in it all, and my parents safely escorted me through the security guards, and onward to my gate.
As we were sitting there, looking out the massive windows and seeing my airplane quietly resting on the ground; my mind flashed back to the circumstances that had brought me thus far...
I was sitting at our dining room table, the morning sun was glittering and dancing through the window, illuminating the Above Rubies magazine that I was thumbing through. As my eye ran down the page, I saw a picture of four girls that appeared to be around my own age. This piqued my interest, and I decided to read the article. Nearing the end of the editorial, there was a blurb about girls being welcome to come to TN and stay with Mr. and Mrs. Campbell, in order to help Mrs. C. out in the office! I ran to my mother and said, "I want to go so badly! Please!!" AND, can you believe it? My mother had been thinking that I should go to TN ever since she read that article herself!! Mommy suggested that we pray about it and seek God's will in this matter. So with that, I walked away and prayed really fast.
Well, time went by and I eventually stopped praying about it. The desire was always in the back of my mind, but I wasn't very committed to praying. That Spring, Mrs. Campbell came to Olympia for a retreat, and my mother and I attended, hoping to meet Mrs. Campbell and ask her more questions. Oh my, that was awkward!! Mrs. Campbell thought that I was like 24 or something and started asking me questions like, "Well, and what do you do?" Very hesitatingly (I was scared to death of her!), I lamely answered, "Well, I do school work and cook dinner." From the look on her face, she clearly showed that she was not impressed. Trying to fix the situation, I hurriedly added that I was only 14. Suddenly, her entire demeanor changed. "Oh, my!" she exclaimed "Of course you would still be homeschooling. I am so sorry! I thought that you were about 24 and was a little surprised at your answer." She laughed and after a little more discussion, she agreed to let me come when I turned 16, although she usually prefers to have older girls. I was so excited and relieved!! Anyway, months passed and the excitement wore off, and realism reared it's ugly head. Questions like: "How will I pay for this trip?" worried me to a frazzle. Finally my mother had to take me aside and tell me that this was in God's hands, not my own. (Do you see the pattern here, as God was drawing me closer to Him?) More time passed, and I was saving money as quickly as I earned it from my piano teaching, and from working at the swimming pool. Finally, January of 2008 came, and my mother made the fateful call to Tennessee. Dates were talked over, and schedules were compared. Finally the dates of April 30th to July 1st were scheduled in, and airplane ticket purchasing was starting to begin. God provided the rest of the funds for my trip, and my tickets were purchased and my anticipation began to mount! I, Brooke Parsons, was actually going to fly all by myself to a strange new part of the country. It was a positively exciting adventure!!
All this and more came to mind as I continued to wait in the airport with my parents. As our last few minutes came to a close, I began to realize that the people I loved most in this world were to be separated from me for two whole months. Suddenly the weight of this hit me, and I was almost in tears as I hugged, kissed, and waved farewell to my darling parents. Sitting in the plane and gazing out the window, I realized that I had just embarked on an adventure of a lifetime, but I was desperately homesick already. Then, the pilot's voice came over the intercom, and our plane launched into the wide open blue, leaving everything I loved behind.
To Be Continued.....
