Friday, February 1, 2013

Comings and Goings

I can't believe it is already February. January was here and gone before I knew it. Actually, that's not exactly true. I knew that January was here every step of the way. 2013 has come in like a lion for me, and I thought that was not supposed to happen until March.

The year started in the tank because I was still missing my sweet Bailey. I turned 51 on the 3rd, celebrating another year with the Breakfast Crew downing half-price martinis at Joseph's. Life got a little happier around my house on the 10th with the arrival of Bailey2. She is a little ball of fire, who has made me laugh every day since she arrived.


Then, on the 14th, when I should have been excited for a dear friend's birthday, I was instead mourning the passing of another dear friend's mother. A few days later, I found out my kindergarten teacher passed away. I don't know if every kid loves their kindergarten teacher, but Mrs. Sweeney was an icon in Farley. Everybody had her for a teacher and everybody loved her.

The following week I came down with a mild case of the flu. Several years ago, when I used to scoff at the prospect of getting a flu shot, I came down with a severe case of influenza after returning from a vacation in Australia. I realized then why some people actually died from the flu. Although my flu this time around didn't compare to that, it still knocked me out of work for two days, completely zapped my energy for about four days, and left me with a lingering hacking cough that is only now starting to subside. Nasty germs out there.

Earlier this week, I was scheduled to fly to Washington, DC for a meeting with some of the leadership team at work. I was initially scheduled to leave Cedar Rapids on Sunday at 10:30 a.m., arriving in DC at 4:30 p.m. Due to the ice storm that was pummeling the area at the time, my 10:30 flight was canceled, and I got rebooked on the 3:30 p.m. flight. Secretly, I was hoping for another cancellation. That would have been so nice. We were delayed leaving Cedar Rapids until 5:00 p.m., arriving at O'Hare about 6 p.m. By this time, the sleet and freezing rain were in full force so no planes were taking off. Of course, that meant, there were no open gates for us to park so we were stuck on the tarmac in a little commuter jet for 3 hours. I missed my original connection to DC and was rebooked on the last flight out to DC that night. We finally got to the gate, and I made it to that flight with only about 15 minutes to spare. I arrived at the hotel in DC at about 1 a.m.

On Monday, I left DC on time at 2 p.m. Everything seemed on time for my connecting flight back to Cedar Rapids; however, about 5 minutes before we were scheduled to board the flight was canceled due to fog in Cedar Rapids. American Airlines graciously rebooked me on a flight leaving at 2:00 p.m. THE NEXT DAY. I called our corporate travel agency and they were no help, other than to say I could rent a car and drive home. Ummmm, no. I was already sleep deprived from arriving so late in DC the night before and who wants to drive 4 hours in the dark in the fog? Not me. I opted to take the shuttle to Northwest Indiana to visit a friend.

The next day, I arrived at the airport on time, we boarded on time, and then we sat. And sat. Evidently there was some snafu with the ground crew and nobody had loaded the luggage. By the time a crew showed up to start loading, a thunderstorm had blown in and the ramp was closed due to the lightening. We sat for another hour and 10 minutes before we finally were able to take off. After arriving in Cedar Rapids, we were informed there was no gate because the earlier Chicago flight was still at the gate due to the ground stop in Chicago. ARRRGGHHH!!! Can you say trip from hell? All this annoyance for a one hour meeting.

As eager as I was to see the start of a new year and to celebrate my birthday, I am happy to say goodbye to January. It was a month filled with too many emotions for me and a little too much stress.

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