Leavin' on a Jet Plane

On Monday night, Elder Smith was officially set apart by his stake president as a missionary for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. On Tuesday morning, the whole family trekked to the airport to see him off to Mexico City, where he will train for six weeks before serving in Fresno, California.

It was the last time that all five siblings would be together for at least the next three years and possible for the next five years or more.

Mom did her best to keep it together until after Elder Smith was on his way. (Any rumors of maternal blubbering just outside of airport security are entirely unfounded.)

As much as Mom and Dad miss their missionary, it may be Elder Smith's little shadow that misses him the most. While waiting for Dad to bring the car around, Aidan looked at Mom (who had given into the water works full force by that time) and asked, "Crying?"

Mom said, "Yes, sweetie. Mommy's crying because Alex went bye-bye." Aidan responded with an enthusiastic, "Bye-eeee!" He didn't seem remotely fazed.

That changed when everyone got loaded into the van and pulled away from the curb. Aidan frantically cried, "Alex! Alex! Alex!"  Both Mom and Dad began another crying jag as they explained once again that Alex was going to be gone for a long time while he was telling people about Jesus. Luckily, tears were quickly wiped away and Aidan seemed comforted by a simple game of Angry Birds. Thank goodness for short attention spans.