Seeing as my parents were returning to Ukraine to resume their missions work and my dad's birthday fell just one week after their departure, my mom decided to plan a party to celebrate his 66th birthday, as well as give their family members an excuse to get together before they left. By the way, the shindig would be held in Wisconsin, where my parents have been residing. My first inclination was that I should also try to attend this event; however, with the costs of flying being what they are, I decided this would not be a prudent financial decision to make.
That was before a little birdie informed me that my brother was driving down from Minnesota to attend, and my sister was flying in from Arizona. Well, the pressure was on. Whether or not I thought it was prudent to spend hundreds of dollars on a last minute ticket to Milwaukee, I would need to do just that.
So, a week before the event, I purchased an airline ticket. Imagine my dismay when our water heater decided to breath its last just two days later! When it rains, it pours, right? (Did I mention our car insurance was due the same day?)
I put those financial issues behind me for the time being and set to surprise my father at his birthday party. Bob, the kids, and I woke up early Friday morning to get me to the Denver airport on time. Well, I had checked in to my flight the night before via computer and printed my boarding pass. After completing this process, I noticed that the Web site said that I simply needed to be at the gate 10 minutes before takeoff. I know, I know- I should have known better! In reality, the Web site said that they would close the doors to the plane 10 minutes before takeoff. My, the devil IS in the details!
Well, I arrived at the airport that morning and managed to make it through security with just a minor delay. I was quickly walking to my gate to board the plane. Imagine my surprise when I arrived at an empty gate! Like I said, I know that I should have been earlier. However, in my defense, the plane was not scheduled to leave for another 5 minutes, and it was gone!
I believe this is about when the nausea set in. It was now 7:40 in the morning, and my family was already driving back to the Springs. After some phone calls- who am I kidding? I used more minutes that morning than I have in the last 3 months combined!- I did manage to arrange a seat on their afternoon flight to Milwaukee. While this meant 7 hours at DIA, it also meant that i would still get to WI for the weekend. I settled in with my dried fruit and newest Ted Dekker book to wait.
You know, I often complain about not having time to myself to read. However, 7 hours is too long, WAY too long! I walked. I read. I munched on dried fruit...and I repeated the process...over and over. Oh, I also did spend an inordinate amount of time of my cell phone, talking and texting. I am sure the other travelers around me were impressed by my obvious social prowess!
The airline employees showed up at my new departure gate about, oh, two hours before the flight was scheduled to leave. *blush* I introduced myself *another blush* and petitioned for a standby seat. To my horror, they announced that the plane was all but full! Earlier I had been told that it was half-empty...or perhaps half-full? My heart was beating like a mouse on meth, and that sick feeling had returned. Um, it could have been the unusually large amount of yogurt-covered raisins I ate, but I really didn't think so at the time. One of the ladies- with a hideous headband with those stupid, sparkly shamrocks, I might add- seemed to be taking a perverse pleasure in my anguish. Her co-worker, who had not sold her soul to the devil, it seems, was kind enough to reassure me that they had one or two seats open and that I was at the top of the standby list.
So, for the next hour, I sat in complete torment, heart racing, trying desperately to focus on my novel, to no avail. I did finally solace in heartfelt prayer, without which I think I would have either passed out from utter exhaustion or been led away in handcuffs for strangling the "Irish Lass" with her own headband. As the other passengers boarded, I ventured a little walk near the check-in desk, when the sadist was away. The pleasant one okayed me, and I practically ran the ramp to the airplane.
While the flight was pretty much uneventful, I had put a damper on the day's plans. AnnaLisa was supposed to have picked me up so we could spend a few hours together catching up. that didn't happen. Also, my sister had flown into Milwaukee before me. Instead of being able to head down to my parents right away, she chose to hang out at the airport and wait for me. I suppose, in the end, this worked out, because we made quite a scene with our fashionable-late entrance to my dad's party.
The only people to know that we were coming were my mom and my two sisters-in-law. Actually, that's not quite accurate. My third sister-in-law, in Minnesota, was also aware of the scheming and had helped me use over an hour of my cell phone minutes earlier that morning at the airport. Anyway, when Simone and I arrived at my parents' place, those who "knew" were outside waiting for us. We went inside, where you have to ascend a long stairwell to get to the condo living space, and my father was at the top of the stairs. He saw us before anyone else and started crying! By the time we both made it up the staircase, there was total mayhem in the apartment. My other siblings stood gawking in shock, my aunt was cackling in her classic, shrill way, and I am pretty sure there was lots of laughter! While it had taken quite a feat to arrive, this response was certainly worth the effort it had taken...and the weekend had just begun.
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