My Bahá'í Pilgrimage During a Crazy Global Pandemic
March 9, 2020
Post 12: When It Rains...
[Post 11] [Post 13]
It was pouring rain the next morning. Normally we wouldn’t mind that very much, except that we were stuck in our Airbnb with a hole in the bathroom floor that reeked of sewer gas. And it was my and Katie’s birthday. And we were still anxiously waiting to hear from Prashant if we could fly into Haifa for our pilgrimage.
As I sat watching the rain form pale pearls on the marble patio, Katie’s phone rang. She answered it hopefully. Then, her face crumpled. She shook her head at me. I felt like I would sink into the cold tile floor.
“Israel closed its borders. We aren’t going on pilgrimage after all,” she announced.
Travis paused his pacing and was quiet; Dad shrugged in defeat from the couch and said, “Well, I guess it wasn’t meant to be. What a bummer, though.”
And that wasn’t all. Prashant said that flights were being canceled around the world due to countries closing their borders. That meant that we had to find a flight back to the U.S.—fast. Katie, Prashant, and I immediately set to work finding a flight from Athens to Chicago. Travis called about getting a refund from Airbnb, but their customer service was backed up due to COVID cancelations. We couldn’t find any good Airbnb options to move into today, either, so we were stuck with sewer gas fumes and a lack of beds for another night.
It was a dark and stormy night...
It felt like the whole world was shutting down.
By the time we managed to find flights back to Chicago for March 13, it was dark outside and still raining. We were exhausted, uncomfortable, and deeply disappointed. We would have been in Haifa right now, near the Bahá’í shrines. Instead, we were stuck in a noxious Airbnb, watching rain streak like tears down the inky windows.
“Happy birthday, guys,” said Travis, offering me and Katie a weak smile.
We laughed wearily. This was definitely one of the worst birthdays we had ever had.
“We should go out and eat. Celebration time,” Dad determinedly declared.
Katie and I did not feel like celebrating, but we pulled ourselves together and ventured out into the cold, wet night. There weren’t many restaurants within walking distance, so we decided to go the place we went to yesterday, where the huge family party had been celebrated.
No one was singing and dancing there tonight. Actually, it was eerily empty. Some of the lights were off, and we were the only ones seated. No music played.
Still, we felt better after eating gyros and reflecting on our trip.
“Well, I don’t regret any of this,” Dad declared, wiping his mustache with a napkin. “We weren’t able to make it to pilgrimage, but man, what an awesome trip this has been.”
“Yeah, for the world shutting down, this trip has been pretty great,” Travis spunkily agreed.
Katie, who was wrapped tightly in her blanket scarf and looked exhausted, nodded in sage agreement. “This was definitely… memorable,” she decided.
Dad squeezed her shoulder. “Well, we couldn’t have done it without you girls.”
“Yeah, thanks for staying up all those late nights and rebooking everything,” said Travis.
Katie and I exchanged humbled smiles. “Aww. Thanks for being such fabulous travel companions,” said Katie.
“Yeah, Katie and I would have been stressing out the whole time if it wasn’t for you guys,” I told them. This trip was definitely a team effort.
“Well, no more stress,” Dad declared. “Let’s just kick back and enjoy our last few days in Athens,”
“Hear, hear!” said Travis, raising his glass of water.
Katie and I wryly agreed.
The rain had stopped by the time we left the restaurant. As we walked quietly together down the moonwashed, glittering streets, I still felt sad. But I also felt something I didn’t expect to feel that day: gratitude. I had prayed to accept whatever today held, and I did. This trip had been the adventure of a lifetime, we were all in good health, and we had three more days to explore the awesome city of Athens. I knew that, God willing, we would reach the Holy Land one day. For now, all I could do was enjoy this moment with my family, and hope that tomorrow was a better day.
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