The faithful cell phone goes off one last time at 4:30, and we drag ourselves out of bed. Even Cathy and Shirley are a bit slow hitting the floor this morning. No make-up for me today. We do all the last minute checking and packing and head down to the lobby to catch the bus. It is the quietest bus ride I have been on in a while.
We check in at the airport and I have to pay $80 for over weight luggage. Hitch #1. We have an hour wait before loading the plane. We eat breakfast, wander a round a bit, and settle in to wait for our plane. We finally get to board our plane at least 30 minutes late and then sit on the runway for 45 more minutes before we take off. This loss of time will make a big difference as you will see later. Hitch #2.
Some of the kids get in a snooze while waiting for the plane.
The flight is fine since I sit between Natalie and (for the life of me I can't remember who). I sleep some and read some, but my DVD player is on the fritz so no movie this trip.
We arrive in Atlanta over an hour late which makes Shirley late for flight to Memphis, since she is not going back to the Delta with us. She literally misses her plane by 3 minutes. Hitch #3. There has been really bad weather in the Midwest that is now heading for the Atlanta area and effecting incoming flights. This year instead of scheduling a flight to Memphis and then catching the bus to Indianola, MR scheduled us a bus from Atlanta. That way we would arrive in Indianola about the time we would have just been getting into Memphis. This was the BEST move MR made!
As I am sitting on the bus, waiting for everyone to get on and settled, I talk to Shirley and learn that she has missed her plane and that she is suppose to be on the next plane at 7:15 p.m. Now remember, Shirley has an injured back and is in pain, real pain. Her husband has scheduled a doctor's appointment for her and an MRI later the next day. She also has to go back to school the next morning. It is the Monday after Spring Holidays, plus she has an event to attend honoring a good friend.
As we are leaving the airport , I talk with Shirley and learn that all the fights to Memphis have been canceled until the next morning. Now, if either of us hag been thinking, she could have riden the bus with us to Grenada and Jay could have picked her up there. She could have been home in two hours. Coulda, woulda shoulda!! We are too busy lamenting the fact that there are no more flights that we are not thinking straight. Jay calls around and gets her a hotel room, but she will not go because she doesn't want to miss the flight the next morning at 6:30 a.m. because it is tentative that she even has a seat on that flight. She sleeps on an airport couch. Ouch!!! If MR had not gotten the bus, we would have been on the flight with Shirley to Memphis, and we would have been keeping her company in the airport over night.
Meanwhile back on the bus, we doze and finally arrive in Indianola around 1:30 a.m. Our families are waiting to greet us and gather our luggage and purchases and chauffeur us home to our own beds. I am one of the lucky ones since I do not have to go to work in 7 hours.
I sleep until 10:00 a.m. and call to check on Shirley. Jay tells me she got out on the 7:30 a.m. flight to Memphis and arrived at 7:30 because of the time change. He got her home; she bathed, and went on to school and stayed until 1:30 when she went to the recognition for their friend. She then went on to the doctor and had her MRI. When I talk to her that night, she is planning on going to bed at 7:30 p.m. Is she Wonder Woman or what?!!!!!!
We had a great time on our trip, and I am preparing for our next jaunt to Spain in the Spring of 2009. If anyone is interested let me know. We would love to have you.
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