So it begins. Leaving Laura at the gate was one of the hardest things I have ever had to do. It was nothing like the movies, not like that at all. No final waves, no dash to stop the plane, no ongoing farewells… just a hug, some tears, and a kiss. Seconds later I boarded the plane and begun to choke up myself… I didn’t think I’d get too emotional, as I rarely let myself go like I did, but it was as good a reason as I could think of to break my regular protocol.
On the first flight I kept my mind off of her, talking to whoever I could in an attempt to focus on the fact I was on my way to being 7,000 miles away from the girl I love. In a rare twist of inevitable fate, the person across from me taught at the same school as Laura. She knew of Laura’s assigned teacher, and of the program Laura was in. This was my first sign of hope, I frantically explained Laura’s teaching position at her high school and made sure this teacher could help her along the way. Luckily, I made sure to gather the teacher’s contact information and I texted it to Laura the second we landed. This was the first time I had helped her since I left and it had only been an hour since I kissed her goodbye.
I managed not to look at the book she gave me on the first flight. Although I was dying to read what she had penned I was afraid I would be overwhelmed by its contents. Fulfilled by conversations on the first flight, I kept the book in the back of my mind until I was waiting, boarding pass in hand, for my second flight. I opened my heavy carryon and pulled out the smooth, black leather-bound book and opened the cover. Smiling back was a picture of us looking up at the camera and her seemingly straight out of the photograph and into my eyes. That’s when the first tear fell. I missed her terribly already and it had been less than two hours. Knowing that I was headed on a monstrous 13 hour flight didn’t help. I got several pages in, called her with the biggest grin one could imagine on my face, and was thrilled to hear her voice. I couldn’t wait to see her again. She was at lunch with her parents, she wasn’t crying, and that made me even happier.
Boarding the plane I found myself with two strangers on my left and on my right. Out of my carry on I got Laura’s book and a novel I never touched. Preflight I started to think about how miserable this flight would be with the confined quarters and the seemingly full plane. Then I opened her book, started where I left off, and stopped shortly after because the tears were too much. The things she wrote in that book are the most amazing literary representation of a person’s total personality I have ever seen. I have no doubt that a part of her free spirit, the one I fell in love with, was bound into the every single love filled page. Seeming uncomfortable with my unexplained quiet sobs, the woman to my left requested a seat change and moved to an aisle seat a few rows up. This allowed me to stretch out some more and enjoy the flight in a better capacity than if I were crammed between two strangers.
It took me nearly two hours for me to get through the book without entirely breaking down into tears. I’ll spare on the details but the final page pushed me past my limit. I cried until I fell asleep at the last message she included in the book. I slept intermittently throughout the rest of the flight then was relieved to finally get out of the cramped plane once we had landed 13 grueling hours later.
Next was baggage claim and customs, a surprisingly short and quick process. Also another round of security was ahead. The guards were well disciplined and honor bound - nothing like you’d see in America. One was so methodical I could of sworn he were a robot. I was spouting out “arigatos” and “konichiwas” as I passed through the dozen or so lines until I finally arrived at my gate. Warm and uncomfortable, I stopped and bought some mineral water and downed the bottle in seconds while waiting a good hour for my final flight.
After I boarded I silently complained about my window seat and cursed myself for leaving my neck pillow in the overhead bin. Adding to my stiff neck was the size of the plane. Incredibly small, I boasted six seats on each row where an American plane would have four. Two hours later I departed the plane and grabbed my luggage and loaded the heavy bags onto a cart. Waiting for my ride, I ran into a few sailors from the Essex. One Chief was nice enough to let me use his phone to call my ship’s contact. Within minutes he arrived and we hit it off well. His name was Scott, he went through Officer Candidate school to be commissioned, and was fairly laid back.
We talked to pass the time for an hour and a half until the bus came. He was from Ohio, and was surprisingly plenty like me. We shared college tales and talked about Japan and our future at sea. He also gave me the rundown on the crew. Overall he taught me a lot and made me feel like a member of the crew before I even got to the ship. Soon the bus came and we boarded and headed for the base in Sasebo. We started to chat some more while the clock clicked slowly towards 11. Then I inquired about the distance to the base, his response was less than pleasing. It would be two more hours until we would arrive. I started up my phone’s music player and passed out almost immediately.
Once the bus pulled into the base and we all showed our ID cards to the security guard, we got off and grabbed my luggage. Scott had a backpack on each side of him and he carried my garment and duffel bag. I carried my seabag on my back and my 59 pound duffel with constantly alternating hands. The walk to the ship seemed like it took eons. Not only was the humid weather reminiscent of Louisiana’s damp air, it also kept me covered it sweat during the mile trek to the ship.
Scrambling up the quarterdeck, I boarded the ship and followed Scott to our stateroom. After five or so flights of stairs with the heavy bags we finally entered the stateroom and dropped everything on the deck. Absolutely exhausted, I brushed my teeth and climbed into another sailor’s rack. He was away on leave and there wasn’t room anywhere else. Then Scott delivered the news that we would be headed to enlisted barracks in the morning due to an overflow of incoming senior officers. My day just kept getting better. As he turned off the lights and I began to fantasize about ridding my shoulders of their incapacitating knots, Laura popped back into my head and made me smile. It was the last thing I thought of before I passed out for the night.
