When I hung up I got another text message a couple minutes later: Hey, I forgot to say, you should definitely come visit me in Florida.
Come visit? Hmmmm, well I do love Florida!
And with the weather starting to turn colder, it was sounding more and more interesting to be able to go when he was actually stationed there and got situated.
Dain came home on leave for Thanksgiving and came to Corvallis to visit one of the weekends he was home. When I was saying goodbye I got kind of sad because I realized this was the first time I was saying goodbye to him without realizing when the next time I would see him would be. He laughed at me, as he commonly does, and told me to not worry. He knew I'd come visit him in Florida, and probably pretty soon.
Dain was right, as he usually is about things when it comes to me and my personality.
This last weekend, I figured it was as good a time as any to fly to Florida to see the one and only, Dain Evan Travis. I had a three day weekend, and
school had just barely started, so homework wasn't piled on too much yet.
I left Wednesday night because the flight I was going to try for left very early Thursday morning. And instead of getting up in the middle of the night, I always would rather try to get enough sleep at the airport and wake up right when my flight is boarding. I spent all day Thursday trying to get on flights to Atlanta, but everyone and their brother wanted to get to Atlanta, so that route was not going to work. I quickly started to reroute my itinerary, and found it way easier to go from Portland to Minneapolis, to Atlanta, to Melbourne, Florida. So I did.
I landed in Minnesota at 8:30pm, and it was 0 degrees. Luckily, I never had to go outside and I was inside the warmer airport. But looking out the windows all night I could see the snow coming down. And I kept praying that the snow wouldn't stick and that my flight to Atlanta early the next morning wouldn't be delayed or cancelled. I know Heavenly Father loves me, because that snow kept falling all night and hardly any of it stuck. My flight to Atlanta left at 5:25am, and it wasn't delayed or anything. I landed in Atlanta and had a very fast connecting flight to Melbourne. I landed in Melbourne at 11:30am on Friday morning. Dain had a surprise work day, so he wouldn't be able to come pick me up for a few more hours, but I was ok with waiting at the airport. I'm a pro. And I was just thankful to finally be there. In Melbourne was when I started to realize how tired I actually was. Spending the last two nights in airports and all the different time changes and early mornings I had been through didn't exactly make my body happy.
I tried to sleep, but I think I was just too excited. So I got some homework done, which was pretty nice and productive. Everyone at the airport was so nice. And I was reminded again of how much I love the south. The hospitality and the accents!
Right around 4:30pm I was sitting on a couch with my bags contemplating whether or not to start another thing I had to do for homework when Dain came around the corner. I will never forget his smile. I love his smile, when it's actually his real smile. And he was still in his air force uniform. Man, there is just something about a man in uniform ;)
We went to the Melbourne mall because Dain needed new clothes. This is the way he put it, "I've always just bought clothes just to buy them. But I want to start dressing with style too. So you need to help me pick out my style clothes."
As much as I hate malls and considering how tired I was, it was actually pretty fun. But it isn't hard to have fun in a situation I hate when Dain's around. He's my best friend for a reason. He bought a lot of clothes. Supposedly, the Air Force pays pretty well. I need to get in on some of that money...
Dain got mad at one point because I hadn't bought anything, and he came to the realization that he became the girl buying everything, and I was the guy waiting outside the dressing rooms waiting for him to come out and see if I approve of what he's wearing. So I ended up carrying his shopping bags so that it looked like I was the one going on a shopping spree. His bags were heavy! But it was worth it.
When we got back to his base, we watched a movie in his room and made a plan for the next day. We ended up going on a walk and he took me on a tour of his Air Force base. The planes were so cool! And even though I got the tour in the dark, it was still pretty nifty to be on an Air Force base. And it finally just kind of hit me that this was Dain's life now. He's still the same Dain, but he really has grown up a lot, and the Air Force seems pretty perfect for him. It was also crazy that I was in Florida with him. I usually travel with my family, and go to see family or do stuff with my family. But I love traveling to see friends. I can't believe Dain is in Florida. I just love it! After the walk, I was soooo ready to just go to sleep.
The next morning, we got kind of a late start. Neither of us slept in that late, but neither of us really wanted to get up and do anything quite yet either. But when we were both finally ready, we went to the beach, which is just across the street from his Air Force base. I love the beach! Even though it was Florida and a lot warmer than Oregon, it was still pretty cold to go swimming. But we dipped our feet in, and walked along the beach for a while. Dain chased some birds, you know, typical Dain stuff.
After the beach we did more shopping. I swear, he really is a girl sometimes. But you should be proud of me. I didn't buy anything that I didn't need this whole trip. I'm awesome. :)
After shopping we went back to Dain's and watched the Patriots vs. the Broncos football game. Dain is a big Patriots fan, and I just love football. The Patriots won by a lot, and it was fun watching football with Dain. I've never done that before in person, just texting during games or a couple times we've been on the phone together for some of the game. I loved it! He is pretty funny when he gets all excited.
After the game we went to meet a few of his friends who were having post game parties. We didn't stay very long, but it was good to meet some of the people Dain works with now. And then we went for another walk. I wanted to see the planes again. :)
The next morning Dain and I went to IHop with Dain's best friend in Florida named Jake. It was insane watching them both eat. They got like the whole menu! I got chocolate chip pancakes. Yummy! What was even crazier was that Dain had like three big breakfast orders, I only had two pancakes, and he still finished about the same time as I did.
Breakfast was great. And getting to meet Jake was fun too. It's always good to know who Dain is spending his time with. I'm kinda a mom like that.
After breakfast we went back to Dain's room for a while and talked about some stuff. It's good to know I have a friend like Dain in my life. Around noon we left for the Orlando airport. The car ride was really good too. We got to talk about
a lot of other stuff that had been bothering mostly me, but some things were things that were bothering him too. We got a lot out, and it was really nice to be able to do that in person with him for once.
At the airport it was time to say goodbye. Saying goodbye to Dain always makes me sad. But this time I didn't feel as sad as I usually do. I wasn't sure why. It wasn't until I got on my plane from Atlanta to Portland that the sadness started setting in. It's worth it to be sad when I say goodbye to Dain though. I'm really grateful he's my friend, and that he's always there for me. I've been really blessed to have him in my life, and he really is one of the best friends I could ever ask for. :)
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