"The Nicest Lady in all of Israel" or "The Day I Nearly Passed out in the Tel Aviv Airport"

I have a confession to make. I can sometimes be a bit dramatic about being sick. I am certain to complain to Nate at the first sign of any tickle in my throat, funny feeling in my stomach or ache in my head. So, you can understand why Nate was only cautiously sympathetic when, as we left Paris on Monday, I said I didn't feel well.

I felt worse and worse as the afternoon went on - feverish, headache, achey, all that good stuff. Our brilliant travel agent had gotten us business class flights for this leg (at the same price, none the less!) which turned out to be a real gift. It meant I could nap in the business lounge at the airport waiting for our delayed flight instead of on the normal uncomfortable airport chairs. It also meant that on the plane I had a leg rest that went up and a seat that went nearly flat. Brilliant.

Anyway, I shivered under two blankets all the way to Tel Aviv where we arrived around 8:30pm. We got into line at passport control and inched our way to the front. When we were about 3 people from the front, I started to feel reeeeally funny and all of the sudden started blacking out a bit like I was going to pass out. Uh oh. I knelt down and put my head between my knees. Not good. I tried to get up a couple times - same blacking out thing. (I've always been a fainter. Just ask my Mom. In recent memory, after getting my wisdom teeth out, Mom saved me from smacking my head on the tile floor. But I digress.) We were 1 person away from the front and the line had gotten huge behind us. I had visions of falling over in front of the tough looking Israeli passport dude and never being allowed into the country. Plus, I was pretty sure I was about to get sick. So, out of line we went and rushed back to the bathroom.

Enter the nicest woman in all of ISrael. (Possibly the world.) I must have looked so bad, that one of the passport control people left her booth (!!) and followed us. She asked Nate my name and came into the bathroom to check on me. She said she had decided to come after us because I had looked so white! She also said to eat something sweet when I came out and that when we made it back in the now enormous line, we could cut to the front of her line, number 20.

We did make it back to the line finally, where she saw us and waved us right to the front. She only asked us one question (did we have any family in Israel) then stamped us and sent us on our way looking very sympathetic.

So, it's 3 days later and I am finally back in action! I have some catching up to do on the blog front - stay tuned!

ps - This post could also be called "My husband is a Saint". He's taken very good care of me - don't worry Mom!