As I have said before, I really struggle with patience. I was
talking to Z's wife about this last Friday and she wisely warned to be
careful about praying for patience, because God will surely give you
tests to develop your patience and character. Lo and behold, that's
what happened. Saturday, my last day in Matamoros, was a slowww day. I
loved this trip, but whenever I get close to departure, I get on edge
and anxious. For example, in college, on Friday afternoons when I was
going home for the weekend or a break, everything stopped. I figured out
the earliest time I could leave and dropped everything to make that
happen asap. I never could understand people who would just hang out
for a couple hours and just leave whenever. Sometimes I'd even skip
class. So my bus was supposed to be leaving early Sunday morning and I
spent most of Saturday just waiting. And waiting. I laughed to myself,
realizing what was taking place. It was a test. But little did I know
it was nothing compared to what would ensue the next day.
My ticket said departing Matamoros, Mexico Sunday March 17th at
9:30 am and Z had me there by 8:45 am. This bus did not even show up
until after 10:30 am. Next we headed for border patrol and customs to
cross the border. As always there was a long line of cars and we just
inched forward. Then we got to the station on the US side. The cars
went to the left and got checked individually but since we were on a
bus, we had to go to the right and we had to get off and take our stuff
to get checked out. There was also another bus, so I'm looking at this
long line of people, with only one guy checking us one by one. We
finally got back to the bus and everyone had put all their stuff in a
line on the ground so the dogs could come and sniff all of them. Z's
wife had wonderfully packed me lunch but they took my apple and wouldn't
even let me eat it. All this was taking forever, but since it was my
first time I just assumed it was normal. We finally got completely
cleared, allowed to reboard and left for Brownsville, the city right
across the border. By now it's past 12:30 pm. We were supposed to leave
Brownsville for Houston at 11. So there were several people waiting on
us to arrive, that were headed for Houston. But Greyhound overbooked
and like 15 people couldn't even board!! I couldn't believe that. They
already had to wait almost two hours, to find out their wasn't even
room. I felt bad for them.
This was the Greyhound Express which means it has minimal stops.
But two guys asked/demanded to get off halfway because they didn't
realize it was express. So if it wasn't one thing it was another. All
this caused us to get to Houston at 7:45 pm. I had a connecting bus
from Houston to Dallas at 6 pm and they told me it already left, along
with another one at 7:30 pm. Awesome. So they tell me I have to wait
for the next open bus at 12:45 am. I just wanted to go home, but I
didn't have a choice. Luckily they found me a seat at the 10:15 pm bus
to Dallas. Ok, sweet. But there's one big problem: I had planned on
taking the train from downtown Dallas to Carrollton once I got back to
Dallas, but the train stops running at midnight. So I wasn't sure what I
was going to do.
Through all of this, old Mills would have been pouting and whining
and complaining. I wouldn't have considered the fact that there was
probably knowledge and info I wasn't aware of that was causing all of
these things. I'm not saying I was devoid of any annoyance but I
approached the situation with a much more spirited attitude and a
demeanor that there isn't a point to cry about something I can't change.
We roll into downtown Dallas at about 2:30 am. When I got on this
bus in Houston, I knew there wouldn't be much opportunity to sleep, so I
tried to get some rest. Nothing doing. I did the nodding-off,
waking-back-up-every-ten-
Taxi. Yeah, that's it. I'll take a taxi. I wasn't even sure
there was taxis that late at night but there was. They were waiting
outside the door of the station, in your face. They told me it'd take
$43 to get me that far. Heckkkkkk no. I just came from 600 miles from
Mexico for $44. I wasn't going to spend $43 to go 21 miles. The train
started again at 4:57 am. I decided not to wake anyone up because by
the time they got up and got to downtown to get me, it would have only
saved me like an hour of time. So I just had to wait for 5 am. In the
meantime I hung out with homeless black dudes smoking weed. I asked one
guy about the train schedule and as I was walking away he said, 'Hey I
got some of that bud.' No thank you. I told him I'm already happy.
Later he asked where I was coming from and when I told him about my
mission trip, he apologized for trying to sell me Marajuana. I was
going to give one guy some money because he sleeps on the train but
didn't have enough for a ticket. He got caught up with someone else so I
just went back to the bus station to rest a bit because it was chilly
and windy outside. It was packed so I had to sit on the floor. While
this urban late night experience was bizarre as a whole, I'm glad I did
that because I met some interesting people. As I have said I love
meeting new people, I just had never done it at 3:45 am. So then I took
the train to Carrollton at 4:57 am. More waiting. I just wanted to go
home.
I got to the Carrollton station at 5:45 am but it is still almost
two miles from my house. By now it is starting to get light out. So I
start hoofing it. I know a quicker way through a small construction
area, so I hopped three fences and kept on trekking. I've always wanted
to do that. 6:15 am and the front door! I made it, after 21.5 hours of
traveling. I wanted adventure and I got it. I shaved, showered, ate
some breakfast and was out the door at 7 am for 5th grade on less than
an hour of nodding off. So one long waiting game was over and another
one was starting. Now I just wanted to go to sleep.
I'm glad it was an easy day. These were good kids. I could not
believe how 'with-it' I was. I mean my academic thought-process was
hazy but I was definitely able to function. Then I got home at like
3:30 pm. I decided since I was feeling okay, to not take a five hour
nap because that would jank my sleep schedule up. That lasted about
twenty minutes. Just like momma said, it hit me. I woke up at like 7
pm and got in bed. I woke up at 5:30 am after like 13 hours of sleep.
Who says you can't catch up on lost sleep? I did not set my alarm and I
couldn't remember where I put anything. I was a bit disoriented but I
was good to go.
I just have a personality that wants everything to happen right
now, but the world does not turn on Mills time. I want to cross
everything off the to-do list and move on to accomplish the next task. I
asked for patience and I got a 21.5 hour test where I could do nothing
to change what was happening, followed by a full day of work, waiting to
hit the sack. Be careful what you wish for. “Everybody is a genius. But if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing that it is stupid.”
― Albert Einstein
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