Two Pieces Of Luggage

It was the end of October when my husband and I came back from our honeymoon.
While we were away, Daylight Savings Time happened but we had forgotten.
We honeymooned in Mexico and had to get used to a different time zone anyway.
We got on the plane to come home and had a short layover in Dallas.

The short layover turned out to be longer since the clocks had been turned back.
I had kept my watch on Eastern Standard Time while we were away.
My husband had changed his watch to match the time zone we were in as we vacationed.
Neither of us even considered that the clocks changed while we were away.

That was also the time they lost our luggage.
Actually, it was really our fault.
We were young, only 22 years old, and newly married.
Neither of us had traveled much before.

When we had our layover, we naively thought that our luggage would simply follow us.
I know that sounds ridiculous, but that’s really what we thought at the time.
You pick up your luggage on the carousel at the end of your trip.
However, our trip ended in Dallas and then ended again in Philadelphia.

We flew on to Philadelphia.
Our luggage stayed in Dallas.
We landed after having a wonderful honeymoon.
All we wanted to do was go home.

We wanted to go home to our little apartment and begin our married life.
We wanted to grab our bags and get in our car with the soapy windows and crepe paper.
We wanted to drive home, unpack, and sleep in our own bed.
None of that happened as planned.

We watched the luggage come down the belt and fall onto the carousel.
Every time a bag looked like ours we would walk towards it.
Every time we got close, we would see that is was not ours.
I remember looking up to the message board to make sure our flight number was there.

It was the correct carousel.
Our luggage never came down the belt.
When it was finally just a few remaining pieces of luggage, my husband spoke.
I think our luggage is lost.

What do mean lost?
Lost in Mexico?
We checked our bags!
We had luggage tags on each one!

I rambled a stream of consciousness that I am sure he barely heard.
We went up to the counter and my husband explained our predicament.
You have to fill out lost luggage claim forms, a man behind the counter said.
Where were you flying from? The man asked, which should have been obvious.

Acapulco, my husband said.
Then he added, We had a layover in Dallas.
Was your luggage on the carousel in Dallas? The man behind the counter asked.
We didn’t go to the carousel, my husband said.

The man looked confused.
You didn’t pick up your bags in Dallas? He asked incredulously.
We just assumed the luggage continuing on to Philadelphia would be moved.
The man looked at my husband and said curtly, Yes, by YOU!

Not the best way to begin our married life.
I just wanted to go home to our little apartment.
I just wanted to go home and go to bed.
I just wanted to drive in our car with the soapy windows and crepe paper and go home.

Instead we were filling out forms.
I knew my husband was embarrassed.
I knew that he thought he should have known all of this.
We were travel novices; we were learning the hard way.

The claim forms were pretty standard.
They would try to find our luggage, which was probably in Dallas.
I imagined our two bags going around and around the carousel.
I imagined them looking lonely and forlorn, like nobody wanted them.

Then came the question.
The agent asked a question he probably asked a thousand times before.
Was there anything valuable inside your luggage?
My husband immediately answered, No.

Can I talk to you for a minute? I timidly asked my husband.
We walked away from the counter to talk privately.
That’s not true, I said, There was something valuable in mine.
He looked at me not quite understanding where I was going with all of this.

My jewelry was in my bag, I said quietly.
What jewelry? He asked as he looked down at the rings on my left hand.
My mother’s diamond watch and the diamond pendant I wore on our wedding day.
The diamond pendant was my mother’s engagement ring that was made into a necklace.

You never put valuables in your luggage, my husband said in a serious tone.
I could feel my throat tighten and I knew that at any minute I would cry.
I was tired; I wanted to go home.
Our luggage was going round and round a carousel in Dallas, looking lonely and forlorn.

I felt so foolish.
Of course you don’t put valuables in your luggage.
What was I thinking?
Would they find our bags and would my mother’s jewelry be inside?

My husband filled out the claim forms, making sure to include the pieces of jewelry.
Your luggage should be found and arrive in about a week, the man at the counter said.
Here is the number to call if you have not heard anything in a week’s time, he said.
The luggage will be brought to you at this address, he said pointing.

We found our car in the parking lot.
We had no luggage to put into the trunk.
It had rained quite a bit while we were away.
The soapy windows were all smeared and the crepe paper was hanging lifeless.

The car looked like I felt.
I still wanted to go home, but we were missing something.
Something we should have had was not with us.
Valuables that I should have kept close were not in my possession.

We drove home tired and quiet.
We each had so many thoughts but none of them mattered.
It was an interesting beginning to real life.
It was the first but certainly not the last mishap.

It is the stuff of stories.
It is the fodder for laughter.
It is the source of friendly teasing.
But not that night; not then.

For here we do not have an enduring city, but we are looking for the city that is to come. (Hebrews 13:14)

This world is not our home.
It just feels off.
It feels as if we are walking around with two left feet.
It feels as if we just don’t fit here.

We don’t.
We are aliens and strangers here. (1 Peter 2:11)
We were made for another Place.
We were made for Heaven, which is our true Home.

So laugh.
Don’t take yourself too seriously.
Things will go wrong here.
We should not be surprised.

Our luggage did arrive the following week.
I wonder who found it going round and round the carousel.
I opened it up right away.
My mother’s jewelry was right where I left it.

And then I laughed.