Midnight Party

We arrived at our hotel in Ft. Lauderdale around 9 p.m. Eastern time.  Our team gathered in the lobby for a pizza party and team meeting.  I almost fell off my chair when Kay, our team lead, announced that we were to all meet back in the lobby at 4 a.m. today.  Ummm?  Really?

My roommate assignments were Ann, Orlena and Whitney.  We promised to try to be good and not cause trouble so we turned out the light at 10:30 p.m. and laid in the dark silently for almost an hour.  Orlena was my bed buddy and I was inwardly giggling as she tried to lay still and not squirm next to me.  Finally I whispered, “I’m not sleeping either.”  She giggled and then Ann, who we thought was sleeping soundly in the next bed got up.  Orlena whispered, “She’s not sleeping either.”  We started snickering and Whitney popped up.  Within seconds, we were having a party.

We giggled and laughed for way too long.  We watched videos on our phones.  We listened to music.  Talked about our families.  And laughed a lot.  Everything is funny when you’re supposed to be quiet.  We finally forced ourselves to turn out the lights and try to fall asleep, but to no avail.  We’d all start falling asleep and then the air conditioner would clunk off and wake us all up.  We tossed and turned and were just falling asleep when the alarm went off at 3:15 a.m.

Breakfast at 4 a.m.

We felt better when we met our team for breakfast and found most of the women’s stories to match our own.  Our team is at the Ft. Lauderdale airport, waiting to board the plane to Port au Prince.  We’re sleep deprived and swollen eyed, but the laughter is constant and the excitement is mounting.  Haiti – here we come!