I’m not sure many moms, knowing that their son is leaving the country, wouldn’t have that perpetually on their mind the day the flight is scheduled to take off. I sadly admit that the only thing to take my mind off of such a stressful thing involves, of course, chocolate. I was standing in line at a pastry shop, trying to decide what to order for my dessert, and my phone rang. I looked at the number. It was an unfamiliar number, but hailed from Utah. I looked at my daughter and said, “Hey, that can’t be the MTC, can it? Do you suppose something’s wrong with Aaron’s flight or something?” After thinking out loud about how that’s impossible, and having her agree with me, I let the caller go to voicemail and resumed the pastry inspection. I assumed that if it was important and NOT a telemarketer, I would get a voicemail and call them back.

I bought my stuff and waited for the voicemail that never came. Then I started to wonder if I’d just made a horrible mistake. Lucky for me, my son knows me and so he called back. This time, since it’s the same number, Kathryn and I agreed I should answer the phone, and lo and behold, it was Elder Snow calling from the airport! I burst into tears, having to leave the store so people wouldn’t call the police about the hysterical woman ruining the shop’s ambiance. His mission president had given the boys permission to call their families if they had time waiting for their flight to LA. Oh, such a surprise!

We had a fairly good amount of time to talk. I won’t bore you with the details. I will, however, point out two things:

1. I wish I had started a list of things I needed to talk to Aaron about. I didn’t expect to hear from him, of course, and didn’t think we’d have a chance to talk until Christmas, but now in retrospect, it’s probably not a bad idea to just always have ‘issues’ on hand just in case. I was so overwhelmed just to hear his voice that everything I needed to talk to him about just went out the window. Thankfully, I had time to think of my ‘list’ when Aaron was talking to his brother and sister. However, I think our chat would have been more efficient, and I also think our communication in general (emails, letters, etc.) would be more efficient if I start just keeping that list.
2. I am happy to report that my idea of packing an ‘MTC bag’ and a ‘Guatemala bag’ worked! Aaron only opened one bag while he was at the MTC, leaving his boots, his mosquito net, many of his pants and shirts, etc., safely tucked away in one bag, awaiting his first assignment after he leaves the training centers. AND, with all the stuff he packed, including books and everything, his bags still came in under 50 lbs. I feel happy that I didn’t smother that boy with all of the things we put in his bags. (Just as an aside, the ‘less universal’ universal soap we got him actually works quite well–he already asked for a refill before he left. You can find it here.)

So, after one of the most exciting 20 minutes of my life (I told him this whole experience is simultaneously the most horrible and the most wonderful thing I’ve ever done), I am happy to report that Elder Snow is on his way to Guatemala, and is excited to be getting there. Let’s just hope the Guatemala MTC’s computers let him upload pictures…