Friday morning we left for the airport at 6am to drop of Chiara, who had a 9:15am nonstop Alitalia flight to LAX. She set her alarm for 4am, but I woke up a while before that, unfortunately for me but fortunately for her since she wasn't up at 4:15am. She thanked me for getting her up, though she said she was just waiting for her snooze alarm to go off. I would end up rather sleep deprived, as would we all. Chiara would hopefully be able to sleep on her flight, while I and then Dee each took two hour naps after returning from the airport around 8am. We were able to stuff a few last things into the two big suitcases she was bringing home, lightening our load for March. Dee printed and emailed her a copy of the customs list.
There was almost no traffic on the freeway either direction at that hour, on this holiday week. Having taken that flight a few times ourselves, I instinctively drove past Terminal 1 to Terminal 3, from where it had departed in the past, but it now leaves from the former. Had I read her boarding pass carefully, I would have known. Amazingly, I found a parking spot right next to the entrance when somebody else pulled out. Dee walked in with Chiara and waited until she got checked in. Because I had gone to the wrong terminal, it took them a while to figure out where to go, and they had to walk a few hundred yards, but it all went well. She got through security without problems, and her flight would leave only a little late.
As we pulled out of the airport, I said to Dee, "let's finish this mission!" We want to keep working with these great kids right up until the end, making the most of our time. Both of us felt somewhat emotional with Chiara leaving, so it will be good to get back to work.
After our naps, Dee went out to do some local shopping: pharmacy, Chinese store, and Conad for groceries. She said it felt good to walk around in the chilly air. I never left the house again except to empty the trash. I am feeling a whole lot better, but still sleepy.
Mariela Rondinelli found a tailor who could hem the long-sleeve shirts from Lands End to short sleeves, for their son Daniele's mission in Arizona. So she placed an order for five of them, which I had shipped to our neighbors Claire and Jim; they are coming over at the end of the month for the temple open house, so we will get the shirts in plenty of time. The Rondinellis are very grateful, but they are paying for the shirts, so it isn't a big deal. She was so excited to see that wrinkle-free actually works here with their dryer. Not life changing, but nice, as I personally know from ironing my shirts for every day here.
We heard from Chiara after she landed at LAX, waiting for her prearranged shuttle. They kept telling her it was coming, and then after 90 minutes they said they didn't have anyone to take her and were refunding her money. So she took a Lyft at rush hour. It too her far too long to get home, but she is there safe after a great trip.
Dee had a 9:30pm call with Silvia, the new Primary president in our ward. They were planning for coming weeks. I was really tired and ended up falling asleep before she finished.