My Month in Europe: Unexpected Moments

Our flight from New York to Dublin was quite possibly some of the worst hours of my life. I was dreadfully tired but also so excited for the month ahead. As soon as we were settled on the plane and up in the air I turned on a movie and took an over the counter sleep aid in hopes that I would be able to get a few hours of shut-eye.

In true Melissa fashion, being unable to sleep anywhere but a bed, the pill just made me groggy to the point that I so badly wanted to be asleep and was miserably uncomfortable. The closest I could get to sleep was that "in-between" where you know you're awake, but you're headed towards sleep. Something would inevitably snap me out of that state and I'd be wide awake again.

After hours of trying to fall asleep and dozens of failed awkward airplane seat sleep positions, I gave up, turned on classical music, and opened the window.

It was a perfectly clear night, and the stars were unlike anything I've ever seen. Being so high in the air in the dead of the night with clear skies was really something. I'm not sure what it is about nature, but it allowed me to accept the fact that I wouldn't be sleeping at all on that flight, and provided a lot of relief from the frustration I had been feeling.

Before long the sun began to rise, and if I thought the stars were beautiful, this sunrise easily took first place. I started to think about the world and just how massive it really is, and how many people there are out there leading such different lives. I thought about technology and how insane it was that I was flying through the air in a one million pound contraption. Instead of taking days by boat to get to Ireland, I had flown from Salt Lake to JFK to Dublin in just about 24 hours.

I started thinking about God and how grand His creations are. For how beautiful the world is, His prized creation is that of us, each of us, individually. Not only would I experience amazing places over the next month, but I would meet amazing people. It was in these moments watching the sunrise that a tiny part of my heart began to open up to the experiences I didn't yet know I would have. In a way those miserable hours on that plane gave me one of the greatest gifts of my entire trip, just by preparing me for everything I would see and everyone I would meet.

I realized that had I been sleeping I would have missed the stars and that ethereal sunrise.

Sure, my trip still would have been absolutely incredible, but I am so thankful for those spiritual moments on that flight that, though I didn't know it at the time, would prepare me for a month of seeing more than just cities and buildings, but seeing my Father in Heaven in every mountain and monument we travelled to and every person I would meet.

I also realized that the moments in our lives that are the hardest always bring the greatest rewards, even if it is just taking you from point A to point B.

So, as my friend Jeffrey R. Holland has said, "If for a while the harder you try, the harder it gets, take heart. So it has been with the best people who ever lived."

Ireland!