Austin - our friend in the
LLM program from Malawi, had his wife and son to visit over the holiday break. Wednesday last week we had the family (and Randy - my classmate friend who also hails from WI) over for dinner. It was a fun time, with
Temba (Austin and
Tepona's son) terrorizing our apartment, as well as
Brisco!!!!
Thursday
Tepona and
Temba returned to Malawi, via flight from Detroit - Amsterdam - Nairobi - Lilongwe. I was asked to drive them to
Detroit, in time for their 9:20 p.m. departure, and of course I agreed. We left Thursday immediately after my last class at 3:30 p.m., and made it to the airport in two hours - not bad - and just before it started to rain.
At check-in, Austin passed over tickets and passports, and moments later the agent said "do you have the passport for the child?" Naturally,
Temba passport was in Ada, OH and Austin's was brought by mistake. Panic sets in - but quick thinking (and fast driving) saved the day. I was able to ring Randy back on campus, and Austin called campus security, who opened his apartment and allowed Randy to get the passport. We met in Bowling Green, with near perfect timing, and I was able to return to
DTW with passport in hand at 8:10 p.m.
Just like out of a movie - I was running through the airport, holding tightly the passport in one hand, and hurdling rolling suitcases and small children on my way from parking
structure to international departures - arriving just in time. Austin recounted to me on the way home that "there was no more beautiful sight than Brian running around the corner!" Though I begged to differ with the accuracy of the statement, my and Randy's efforts were appreciated, and it was nice to be able to pull it off!!! Makes for an exciting story at least, and a lesson to check, and double check for passports prior to international travel!!!
