Getting There is Half the Battle, Part One

Tuesday, June 26th

Because I would be taking so much time off (two and a half weeks to be precise), I decided to work part of the day. We hadn’t done much packing the night before, so I went home at noon to begin the arduous process of packing for myself, Lili, Mom, and Grandpa. I am a notoriously good packer—the downside being that everyone wants me to pack for them. I finished packing the three suitcases for Mom, Lili, and me pretty quickly because I had a really good list. Mom and I only took a week’s worth of clothes, planning to have most of our stuff do double and triple duty. I then went to Grandpa’s to work on his suitcase. He already had his things sitting out for me, and it was looking not so good. He had five shirts, five pairs of shorts, and five pairs of underwear. Ummm...for fifteen days? Really?

I made the mistake of questioning his packing choices and was promptly told that he didn’t need to pack everything in his closet like me and Mom. He was a smart packer. (If he’s so smart, how come I’m the one packing? Just saying.) So fine, take your five little things and live with it.

I got back to Mom’s house in time to go home, pick up a few things and get Staylee to go to the airport. Mom and Larry left to go get Grandpa and I ran home. Staylee for once was ready to go, so pretty soon we were on our merry way to Midland International Airport. (The International cracks me up since the only international flight is about one a year to Mexico. Everything else is either through Dallas or Houston. International my eye.)

The drive was pleasant enough and before I knew it, Staylee was helping me unload the car and kissing me and Lili goodbye. I hadn’t anticipated how hard it would be until that moment—Staylee and I had never been apart this long before. I could tell he was upset, too because he kept making me promise to stay with the tour group and not go anyplace that looked dangerous. Mom stuck her head outside the airport door and told us to cut the goodbye short. I gave Staylee one last kiss and Lilia and I went inside...

...where we got to wait in a very slow line. We basically standing still until I realized that people were upset over canceled flights. I checked the monitor for our flight status and wouldn’t you know, it was the only one labeled CANCELED. Gahhh!!

Mom immediately flipped out and said that Grandpa has a little black cloud over his head when we travel because we always run into snags. I put on my best Spoon Full of Sugar voice and attitude and went to work cheering them both up. Mom called my stepfather and started freaking out that he would have to drive us to Dallas (6 hours away) and then had to hand the phone off to me because she was so upset. I told both she and Larry that I thought we should wait to freak out until we talked the people at the desk.

For once I was right, because as soon as we got to the desk, they told us there was a plane flying in and turning right around to go back to Dallas, and if we hurried we could just make it. Hurry? With a baby and a 90 year old? Sure, why not? We hustled as much as you can when you have to pull all the liquids out of the diaper bag and explain that the juice is indeed for the baby and have a little old man searched by hand since his pacemaker prevents him from going through the metal detector.
Thankfully we made it to the plane with time to spare. We sat down for a few minutes to enjoy some cold beverages (last call Diet Dr. Pepper! Does not translate in China) and then it was time to board! The worst was over, right? (You will look back at that line and laugh later—or at least I will. I have to in order to keep from crying).

We arrived in Dallas only an hour behind schedule and picked up our checked luggage. We had reservations at the La Quinta for the night (not my choice of accommodations, but it was just for one night) and I called their shuttle to pick us up. We rented a cart for the luggage and Mom pushed Grandpa in a wheelchair who in turn pushed Lili in her stroller. It was quite the parade!

The shuttle picked us up fairly quickly, but we had to stop to get some other people. We didn’t have a carseat (and there would have been no place to put one if we did), so Lili sat on my lap. It felt so weird and I seriously started hyperventilating at the thought of a crash. By the time we got to the La Quinta, Lili’s arms and tummy were red because I was holding her so tight. Grandpa was grumpy because we weren’t staying right the airport, but the hotel really wasn’t that far. Inside we went to check in and were faced with more bad news—they had messed up our reservations (even though we had double checked them 24 hours before) and we only one room on the second floor at the back (not so good for Grandpa) and since there were so many people with canceled flights not only could they not get us another room, we would not be able to ride the free shuttle back to the airport at 5 am, we would have to take a cab. We asked if at least we could store the luggage since we were all crammed in one room—nope. No roll away bed or crib either. We turned to leave and Mom said, “This is why I stay at the Hilton.” I guess the girl felt bad, because she moved us to a ground floor room at the front.

Mom and I managed to get all our stuff into our sneeze of a room and it was decided that Mom and Grandpa would each take a room and Lili and I would sleep on the floor. Everyone got ready for bed and I put the bedspreads and Mom’s top blanket on the floor for Lili and me. We turned the lights out and Lili was fascinated by the wall and kept trying to cruise along it, so after thirty minutes I finally switched her to my other side and got her to sleep. It was one in the morning and we had to get up at four. Sigh.

Coming up:
Things to do in Dallas when your plane is dead,
Lines that lead to nowhere, and
Why I will never go through Chicago O’Hare airport again.