12 April 2008

Home Again - A Few Thoughts

Well, with no thanks to the old gray lady, UA, I finally got home at 1AM this morning. It was such a long day. I'd been up about thirty hours by the time I got on my fourth flight of the day from Denver to Chicago. Mercifully I was in First Class and when the flight attendant gave me a choice for dinner - chicken or pasta - my mind completely shut down. I was completely unable to make a decision. I could not decide what to eat. I told her to just pick something for me to eat. She said, "I'll give you the pasta. It'll put you out." She could have said "down" instead of out, and given my condition and I would have been fine with that! We finally landed at 1125PM Friday night, already late, and then had to wait nearly fifteen minutes for someone to marshal us into the gate and then we had to wait for an agent to put the jetway in place - I mean it's not like Mother UA didn't know we were coming. Then it was an almost 40 minute wait for bags to get delivered. I was so done by the time I called for my Town Car. Got home a little after 1AM and that was it - I stumbled up the stairs, dumped my bags without even bothering to unpack - something I never do - and took two Tylenol PM, and I was out until 10AM today!

Most of the day has been a bit of a jetlagged haze. I am so glad to be home and to be back with my family. Sarah was already at work and Parker was at a Merit Badge Clinic by the time I woke up so it was fun to have some time with Shari and Courtney. Shari had a big Primary Activity Day today so Courtney went with her to help her out. I had to get caught up on all the mail, banking, etc., and had to run a few errands.

Mark and Elaine called to see if we wanted to go to dinner, so we went with them to Lombard to the Weber Grill in Lombard. It was awesome as always. For a place that specializes in grilled stuff, they have the best mashed sweet potatoes on the planet! It was fun to be with friends.

Finally, tonight is the NNHS Senior Celebration and Sarah won't be back until tomorrow morning. This is a huge event out here. The school is transformed into a playground for the Seniors. Businesses throughout the community donate all manner of stuff - food, goods, services - Sarah has a massage scheduled for 130AM(!) and the kids are not permitted to leave until 5AM. It's a great event - the kids' cars are valet parked, they turn in their car keys, and it's well-chaperoned. It's a good event.

This does signal another step in my oldest child's transition out of the casa. The calendar is filling up with activities like these from now until her graduation in just over a month.

OH! Blessed be the DVR! I watched the new episode of "The Office." To say that it was agonizingly funny would be an understatement. It was worth the pain of the writer's strike!

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

I was in tears watching The Office last week. Can't wait for tonight. Jan was hilarious. John likes the show but I don't think he enjoys it nearly as much as I do. Glad you're back in the USA.

Lisa