Jordan Part One: I'd Cross the Desert

In preparation for the long drive I did what I usually do:  make myself a mixed CD of my favorite songs which I will listen to approximately 10 times; 5 times on the way there, 2 times on the way home.  The Bird and the Bee (a band my friend Nick introduced me to) was featured on this trip. “Across the sea, the mountains, the desert / And if you need me, just call me.”  And then I smiled:  over the Ocean, through the mountains (and craters), across the desert, over the border and around the sea…I was on my way to see my big brother!  I did all of that, and I’d do it again!

Dusty is a doctor in the Navy and I couldn’t be more proud of him! He was deployed with the Marines in May and though his ship’s route has been unknown to the general public for security reasons, I had had my fingers crossed that he’d be heading my way.  After training foreign militaries and rescuing a German vessel, the ship pulled into the port of Aqaba, Jordan on the Red Sea.  For a month Dusty was sooo close! At one point he went to Mt. Nebo (where Moses saw the promise land) and could see Jerusalem in the distance…I was in Jerusalem that day.  How frustrating!

But now I was on my way to Aqaba and I was only hours away from seeing Dusty! I arrived at the Israel-Jordan border and parked my car in the gravel parking lot. After showing my passport to authorities I left Israel and walked about 50 yards in between two tall fences.  The Jordanians greeted me with smiles and quickly sent me on my way to South Beach where I checked into my hotel about 2 kilometers from Dusty’s ship.  I was like a kid on Christmas Eve that night, counting down the hours until I would see my brother.

“You could take the hotel service or – if you understand me deeply – you could go outside and get a cab.” I took my delicately frosted pumpkin cookie outside to flag a cab for the $3 ride.  Though it was only 2 kilometers, a lone white female with her head uncovered should not walk along the side of the desert highway. After 5 minutes in the 100 degree sun waiting for a cab, the frosting on Dusty’s cookie and my time with Dusty were melting away. I tried to exchange the cookie for a ride on a tour bus, but the tour guide wasn’t having it.  What was I to do? (I wouldn’t…not in the Middle East…would I?!?)

The small beach was packed with young marines desperately trying to get an internet signal to call their families, talking about how much they missed home.  To the left was Saudi Arabia, to the Right Israel, across the sea Egypt. And sitting there on plastic chairs on a beach in Jordan were two kids from Mansfield, Ohio. It is funny how government orders put the two of us so close together.