Airport Adventures

Hopes were high. We felt the need to rush. My sister, Mel, my husband and I were on our way to Chicago to catch a flight to Seattle, Washington for my cousin's son's funeral. It's about a 3 hour drive to where a different cousin has offered to let us park the truck. Then we planned to walk to the subway and ride for about an hour to the airport. We left at 4:00am after about two and a half hours of sleep. We had dropped our children off at Grandpa and Grandma's house the night before and didn't get back until late, then we wanted to shower so we wouldn't have to in the morning.
We called my sister when we left our house to pick her up. No answer. When we arrived at her house it was dark. We called again, no answer. I tried the door. Locked. Shortly she came to the door and let me in. She had just woken up. It didn't take her long to get ready and we were on our way.
This was when things started getting silly. Early that morning, before we had slept for our two and a half hours, Eric was headed to his office in the basement, so trying to save some time, I asked if he could drop a couple things in the washer on the way. I had started the load earlier, but had stopped it before it finished the cycle so I could add the clothes I wanted to wear to the airport. He was willing to help and left with the clothes. I continued to dry my hair and get ready for bed. When it was time to switch the load to the dryer, I realized the clothes were still on the floor by the washer. I started the load. Later Eric came up and wondered why I wasn't going to bed. I told him I was waiting to put the clothes in the dryer. He commented, "You should have started that earlier, that wasn't very good planning, was it?" For some reason, as we told Mel our story at 4 something in the morning we thought this was hilarious. In fact with so little sleep, we pretty much thought everything was funny.
The roads were clear and we made good time. Just as we were parking our truck in Chicago, Mel's cousin came out of her house on her way to an early morning swim and offered us a ride to the subway. It wasn't a far walk, but this would save us some time and we were grateful for the help and amazed that we had arrived at almost the exact time that she was leaving her house. Sometimes it seems like God works things together and smooths the way for us. It sure seemed that way with the airline tickets. We had looked into the prices for flying, and had eventually decided to drive because flying was too expensive for us. I was not looking forward to 70 plus hours of driving in 4 days. Then one of our friends who works for an airline offered us 3 standby tickets. All we had to pay was some taxes. He said he's never had anyone not get a flight. They might miss the first one, but then get on the next. We were shocked, and so thankful.
The first of our airport troubles began as we checked the kiosk for our tickets and attempted to print. We were informed we needed to see a flight representative for assistance. Our flight had been canceled. And not only our flight, but also a flight last night to Portland, Oregon. Now there were about 400 passengers on standby who wanted to reach the west coast.
We moved from concourse to concourse, gate to gate, hoping for an empty seat. We would expectantly watch the screen where the passenger information was displayed. Each flight hoping that we would get on -- even though the standby list was long! At one time we were standby passengers 53 through 55, I think. And yet we still hoped? I guess hope can defy logic. After the passengers had boarded for each flight we would hear the attendant make that so familiar announcement -- "The standby list will be transferred to the next available flight." And so we waited. We waited until after the last flight that day. Then decided to find a cheap hotel to sleep for a few hours before we tried again the next day. Then we waited some more for the hotel shuttle. And we waited, and we waited. The driver eventually showed and gave some explanation which I didn't believe. Then we sat in the van and waited and waited some more. Ten more minutes, he told us. He said he was waiting for someone. The ten turned into twenty, or was it thirty? Eventually he drove us away, and continued telling stories. He reminded me of my 4 year old son, Shiloh, -- "...And we were walking on the ocean and we said 'ocean, turn into a house' and it did, and then we flew to the sky with a shark..." You get the picture.