IHOP Girl: Airport Adventures

Wednesday, June 10, 2009

Airport Adventures

Aw, sigh. The cousin has left, and now my life has drifted back into monotony...think my aunt would catch me if I stole her back?

Actually, she almost got to stay with me - at least for awhile longer.

We arrived at the airport in plenty of time to check her bag, and walk her to her gate prior to boarding of the plane. Please keep in mind that she will be 15 in August, and flew without a problem the whole way here. That said, while we were checking in they asked her age (which was fine - they had done that on the way here also), and then the attendant promptly told me that she could not fly. I think something along the lines of "well she flew here" followed by "well she can't stay here!" - Not that I don't love my cousin, but I think my aunt might freak if I actually kept her - I'm just saying...

The airline then informed me that someone didn't follow policy when they allowed her to fly (with a connection) unaccompanied. Now I understand policies, here at the hospital we live by them, and unfortunately I was now on the receiving end of one. My aunt even tried talking to the manager, but alas! If my cousin wanted to get home we'd be shelling out another hundred dollars to switch her over to another airline who would let her fly. Not only that but there was a four hour wait till her new flight would take off, and my cousin's family would have to drive an hour away to pick her up at a different airport.

Yeah for airport excitement!

I kept my calm, and just told my cousin that this is flying, you have to get use to change - I mean what are ya gonna do - and in the worse case scenario she'd get to hang with me for a couple extra days.

All together I got to hang at the airport a couple extra hours, walk her to her gate, and spend some quality people watching time while we waited. We had fun, and not even the inconvenience ruined our mood. Life is to short to spend it angry! Not to mention my cousin was conviced she wasn't suppose to be on that other plane because Rascal Flatts was going to be on this new flight...I didn't dash her hopes, but I ddddid happen to mention that they probably had their own jet...just saying!

4 comments:

the Wanna Be said...: Your such a fun girl! I bet your cousin had a blast. Hope your summer continues well. Kisses to you!; 8:51 PM
shrunken_frontal_lobe said...: you mean you didn't freak, get loud and be wrestled to the ground by a female TSA agent from the former GDR named Helga, and subsequently Tasered? i'm disappointed not to read about you on CNN.

BREAKING NEWS!

Nashville - "female tasered at nashville airport for failure to comply after learning she could not dump off her unruly cousin at the airport. authorities believe woman tied to Islamic militant group involved in similar disruptions at other major airports around the country recently. her name is being witheld pending notification of parents (whom are really only custodians for the alien-human hybrid)."

well it makes for good fiction at least. and my deluded mind was quieted for a brief spell.

thanks for the fictious memories.; 4:11 PM
Clair Bannerman (alias) said...: Hahaha, maybe I should try that some time SFL. At least the Wanna Be was sweet ;p. You on the other hand...I do love, however your imagination gets carried away. I think your other daughter would be more likely to freak! Were I to loose it though I would have to make the following statement:

"I will be making no appologies, as the section of my brain that can compriehend regret has been perminately damaged from the taser...however, I would be more than willing to have a rematch at another scheduled time if Helga requests....."; 4:37 PM
shrunken_frontal_lobe said...: yeah, girls are sweet...

and boys are...

sugar and spice and everything nice, isn't that the way the rhyme goes??

He!; 6:34 PM

Movie Night In...I love a good movie!

Mega Mind
Taking Chance (Will make you cry like a baby)
Charlotte Grey (A bit of a different take on Nazi Germany)
Series - Merlin (I LOVE BBC)
Robin Hood (Okay, a love Russell Crowe, you'll have to understand that about me...)
Kingdom of Heaven (Chuck full of acting power with an epic tale)
Miss Potter (Such a great film! Story of the creator of Peter Rabbit)
How to Train your Dragon (Possibly my favorite animated movie ever...I'm like a little kid, I watch it over and over)
Buck (Sundance winner, Biography of Horse Trainer, heart touching)
Lost in Austin (Modern day spin on Pride and Prej.)

Life as a nurse...

Great words by Reb Jeff: Vayishlach: Facing Death

"Rachel died. She was buried on the road to Ephrat — now called Bethlehem. Jacob set up a pillar above her grave. It is the pillar at Rachel’s grave to this day."–Genesis 35:19-20

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vidui http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shiva_(Judaism), and preparing the notifications to the community, feel like little fragments of the sacred. I have been entrusted with the care and tending of the most powerful, complex and difficult emotions that a person can experience in life. I have been made, in some small part, a guardian of the memory of a departed soul — a life that touches upon many other lives.After dropping off my older daughter at her high school this morning, I made a stop at Treasure Coast Hospice http://www.tchospice.org/, a remarkable organization that sets a very high standard for the loving and respectful care of the dying. There, I visited a lovely man whom I have seen a few times in his hospice room. I sat by his bedside and listened to him (in full possession of his faculties) as he told me about his worries about his family, the support of his wife after he is gone, and the future of his children and grandchildren. I was deeply moved by the way he put any concern for himself — even while facing death — in a distant backseat to his concerns for his family. When my own time comes, I can only hope to have his awareness of the way that one life can touch so many others.Also at hospice, I visited a woman I have known for the past two years — a dear soul who is a former Jewish religious school director. I sat with her, too, singing psalms to her as I listened to her heavy and labored breathing. I have no medical training, but I have come to know the sound of a person who is close to death. The body begins to fight for each breath as it slowly looses it grasp on life. As I held her hand and sang, I realized that being a rabbi is no protection against becoming one of the people caught in the web of connection. I, too, am changed by the loss of a life that has touched mine.Later in the day, I met with a couple from our congregation. She had just learned that her brother died yesterday in a car crash. Coming to terms with the loss is made more difficult for her by the fact that she and her brother had not seen each other or spoken in five years. Sometimes, people think it is easier to mourn the death of someone who has moved out of your life. In my experience, though, it's harder. Grief is magnified by wounded love and regret. I have no magic words to say to ease the pain of mourning. All I can do is listen, become a vessel in which people place their stories, and offer compassion.Actually, there is one more thing I can do. I can have faith that "all I can do" is all that I need to do. It is enough.In this week's Torah portion (Vayishlach) Jacob watched Rachel, the love of his life, die in childbirth. He was overcome by grief. Jacob had worked for his cruel uncle Laban for fourteen years to earn the right to marry Rachel. Now she was gone. Because she died while they were traveling, Jacob had to bury her by the side of the road. He built a pillar of stones on the spot to mark the place as sacred.This is what we all do, in one way or another, when death enters our lives. We grieve and our hearts break. We wish that we could continue to walk along the path of life with our loved ones forever, but the dead cannot fully join us. We have to leave something behind in order to resume our own journey. So, what do we do? We mark the moment as sacred. We erect monuments — both in cemeteries and in our hearts. The stones we place on top of stones remind us that a life may end, but its sanctity is forever.The Torah says that the monument Jacob built for his beloved continues to stand until this day. A life that touches the lives of others never ceases to send living reverberations throughout the web that binds us all.