My journey home... the long version.

Wow, what a trip! We went back to KS for Christmas, and it was quite the visit. Joe came back on the 26th and the kids and i were supposed to fly in on Friday. Supposed to.

I had a four hour layover at the Dallas airport and then was supposed to fly into Jackson Friday night. The kids and i ate lunch, hung out at a little play area and then walked to what was supposed to be our gate. No one there. I then noticed that they had changed our gate to allllll the way at the other end of the concourse. Okay, fine. So we walked to the gate and as i was sitting down, a gentleman said that our flight was delayed two hours and we weren't leaving until 7:30 (we were supposed to leave at 5:20). I panicked at the idea of having to entertain the kids for two more hours, so i went to the desk to find out what was up.

As i walked up, the fellow behind the counter said that they had just cancelled the flight to Jackson due to weather and that we wouldn't be able to leave until tomorrow morning. Oh, and we wouldn't be getting our luggage, either. Let me break this down: three kids under the age of five, 15 more hours until we leave, no clothes, no toothbrush, almost two thousand miles away from the hubby i was so ready to see.

Now, unless i am pregnant, i am not a huge crier. But boy, things were looking pretty bleak and i started to cry. I walked over to the kids and Issy asked what was wrong and i told her that we wouldn't be able to see Daddy until tomorrow and she started to cry. So i pulled myself together for them and tried to decide what to do. My first instinct was to just rent a car, and drive back to Kansas, but i didn't have any carseats. So it seemed that i might just have to rebook for Saturday morning and stay the night in the airport.

So i went to stand in The Line. Holy cow, i think that might have been the longest, slowest line. Ever. As i stood in line, i chatted with a lady behind me, whose name was Janie. She asked what i was planning on doing and i said i guessed i would stay at the airport. She had been on the phone with her son, who was booking her a hotel through priceline and she said she would call him back and ask him to get two rooms, one for her and one for the kids and i. She let me use her cell phone to call Joe (mine ran out of charge a week ago and i didn't have a charger with me). I got rebooked for a flight in the morning and we took the shuttle (and that was one scary Texas shuttle driver!) to the hotel. We had dinner with Janie and headed in for the night.

I got up early, showered and put on my dirty clothes, used my face powder and chapstick and wished fervertly that i had put hair product in my carry on. But, alas, no. And as vain as i am, it hardly mattered. Got the kids up, went to the airport, had breakfast, hopped on the plane. On the flight from Texas to Chicago, Isaac had to use the bathroom twice and i spilled a good portion of coffee on myself. But i had Liam's boogers on me anyways since i had been wearing those clothes for over 24 hours and he has a cold, so the coffee was a welcome change. Janie helped me hold Liam periodically when i looked particularly frazzled and was really good with him.

We finally got boarded on the plane from Chicago to Jackson that afternoon, and it looked like we might just pull this off. Issy had a meltdown about not sitting by the window, Isaac had a meltdown because he was tired (and subsequently fell asleep) and Liam had a meltdown because he was tired (and he also fell asleep). It was a bumpy entry upon our arrival in Jackson and i am not likely be travelling by air anytime soon, if i can help it. The kids and i have never been so excited to see Joe.

The Epilogue: I should note, that when i spoke to Joe on Friday at four, it was not snowing in Jackson. It was sunny, in fact. So the whole, "We are cancelling due to weather" story is pretty bogus. My plane was supposed to get into Jackson at 7:15 on Friday. The Jackson Airport landed planes until 11:00 that night, so there is definitely something stinky about that story.

There was, however, a snowstorm, that came overnight Friday. So we were the only plane to land on Saturday in Jackson. They made a big announcement about it while we were waiting for our luggage and i thought, "Hmmmm, if we had come in last night, it wouldn't have been a big deal"

My luggage wasn't there yesterday. I spoke to someone incompetant on the phone twice last night, trying to make a lost luggage report. They called me today and delivered it to my home in Driggs this evening.

As Janie and i were parting, i was thanking her and asked how much i owed her. She had helped me so much, i felt so grateful for the kindness of this stranger. She told me not to worry about it and just to help someone when they needed it if i got the chance. So there you go, folks. It was a journey to get back, but kindness and human decency does exist :)