After one year of saving and sacrifice for our vacation, the time finally arrived! It is Nov. 6, 2007, a Tuesday morning, 8:30 A.M.! My cousin Richard, his roommate Joseph and I are on our way to San Francisco airport. We are Bangkok bound! I feel great! I don’t know if it’s because I am just happy to be going or if it is just because it’s really a beautiful morning! But there are two things I am sure of, I was happy to be on vacation and this was a day the lord had sent just for me!
Our plane leaves at 11:45 A.M. But we had to be at the airport two hours earlier for checking in for our flight and to go through security check. All the way to the airport we were laughing and talking about what we were going to do when we got to Thailand. But underneath the laughter there was a bit of sadness because Joseph wasn’t going. He was just driving us to the airport. Joseph had made plans earlier that year to go to Hawaii to visit his family. He had just gotten back from Hawaii that week. Also today is his birthday. We told him we would buy him something really nice. He seemed to be happy about that.
We finally made it to the airport. I wasn’t looking forward to the long ticket lines or the line for security check. Surprisingly, the ticket line wasn’t so bad. But when I saw the line for security I had a feeling I was going to be checked. And guess what? I was! My cousin was upset and was saying it was a race thing, but I did not think that. I think my Afro-centric clothing and my jewelry and four feet of dreadlocks hair just may have captured their attention. As they began to search me I politely asked them “What is your procedure for selecting people to be searched?” They said we select at random. “Um” I was thinking what’s random? They were very nice to me while they were searching me. They asked me about my clothes and jewelry and told me how nice my hair was. I had begun to believe they had forgotten what they stopped me for. Unlike my cousin’s belief, I think they just needed a reason to get to know me. I was ok with that!
It was smooth sailing from there! We were Bangkok bound!
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