Our First Meeting

We had been talking on the internet and phone for a while when we decided that we should meet.  It wasn't going to be easy.  Australia to the USA is quite a long distance, but we were determined.

It took a month to save up the US$1000 for the ticket.  And boy, was I getting nervous now!!  I was so excited that I was going to meet and be with Ricky, but the butterflies in the tummy were there as well.

November 16th, 2001 my Mum and younger brother Daniel took me to the Brisbane Airport to say goodbye.  I had to fly to Japan first and stay overnight as I was flying by Japan Airlines.  Next morning I was up really early and ready to leave again.  It was eight hours to Japan the day before, and now I had a thirteen hour flight ahead of me.

I remember looking out of the plane window when we were landing at Chicago and feeling sick.  I was so extremely nervous.  I went though customs and immigration *had no problems* and walked out of the doors into the waiting area.  I spotted Ricky standing about 20 feet away with his friend Tello.  I took a really deep breath and started towards them.

Ricky still hadn't spotted me yet, so I said, 'heyyy'....he turned around with a huge smile on his face, came over, kissed me on the forehead, said, 'my baby is finally here' and then gave me a really big hug.  We then had three pictures taken with the digital camera.  Here are two of them, the third didn't work out...

I was suddently really tired, and glad to have arrived.  We had a long drive ahead of us *four hours to Indiana* but first we had to find the car!!  We had to take a train to another entrance and walk outside where I instantly froze.  It was almost winter and I was definetly feeling it.  Australia is a warmer country, and I hadn't ever experienced an American winter.

The drive home we got really comfortable with each other.  We stopped off at Taco Bell so that I could experience some American food.  It was pretty good, although I didn't eat too much. 

We got back to Indiana in pretty good time, and arrived at my new home in time to meet Rickys Mom,  Brother, Nephews and Niece.  It was good to see them.  We then had a look around the apartment, then went and met most of Rickys friends before coming home so I could crash out and sleep for 10 hours.