I am so bummed... I had planned on attending Ginger's shower for Cali Capri Lawson's upcoming arrival. That didn't happen. The shower was planned for Saturday, 08/07 at 1 p.m. I bought a ticket to fly up by myself to Flint, Michigan on Friday at 5:00 p.m., to arrive in Flint around 7:40 p.m. Dad and Dolly were going to pick me up, we were heading to dinner and I would spend the night at their place. Mom was going to pick me up at Dad's on Saturday morning at 10 a.m., in time to help set-up for the shower at Roseville. After the shower, I was keeping the night open, to spend time with the Lawson clan and hopefully see Cali's nursery. I would spend the night with Mom on Saturday night, head to church with her on Sunday and then fly out at 1 p.m. on Sunday. Well, that didn't happen...
I ran around like a crazy lady all week, getting ready for the trip. Haircut, toiletries, baby shower card, etc. Closed up shop with work Friday afternoon and after being held up by one more work-related e-mail, I left for the airport. I drove like a crazy woman to get to the airport on time. Phew. Got there in plenty of time. Checked my bag, which included some carefully packed strawberry preserves I made the night before. A little taste of Georgia for family. The suitcase weighed a ton, but not enough for them to charge me for it. ;-) Rush, rush, rush to get through security, was frisked by a very eager and overly-friendly security officer (:-0). I'm in the clear. Got to the gate on time. Noticed the flight was delayed by 20 minutes. No big deal. Saw it was delayed by 20 more minutes. Manageable.
I talked to Doug, who was pumping gas when I called. He said it was raining sideways in Marietta, that he was going to sit in the car while he pumped gas. Hmm, that's strange, it's sunshine and blue skies at the airport?
I called my Dad to let him know about the delay. I told him I was saving phone battery juice for necessary calls, and I would let him know when I was boarding the plane. No sooner than hanging up with him, the announcement came on.... "Those waiting for flight 246, your flight has been canceled due to bad weather in surrounding Georgia. You've been reassigned to fly out tomorrow at 5 p.m. We are providing rental car vouchers for those who need to make other arrangements. If you need to make other arrangements, please get in line and we will accommodate you." Huh?
Nearing the dinner hour, I told the lady behind me that they were going to have some seriously hungry and angry customers at the front of the line soon. One of the attendants came by and mentioned that an Airtran employee at the next gate could help us, if we wanted to go over to the next gate. Being that I was probably 30 people back, I decided to go. The lady behind me, with her son, also went. They needed to get to Alpena for her parents' 50th wedding anniversary tomorrow. Yikes.
The Alpena lady made it to the other gate before me. So, I got to hear the Airtran employee talk to her about flight possibilities, etc. All flights out of Atlanta were delayed by 3 hours, at that point, if they werent' canceled. The 11 p.m. flight was going out at 2 a.m. and was full. The 8:50 a.m. flight into Detroit the next day was full with 11 people already in a standby list. The next flight out, guaranteed, was 5 p.m. the next day. Seriously. I was ticked. I had a major headache. I needed to eat, probably. I just wanted to get to Michigan. So, after many phone calls to Michigan, etc, I decided to get my money back. I wasn't going to DRIVE by myself 12 hours, starting at 8 p.m., from Atlanta to Michigan. As I said, all other flights were delayed 3 hours, anyway. Bummed. I've never gone to the airport, only to return, not going on the trip I intended on taking. Strange.
I had to request my bag be sent back to baggage claim, which took over an hour. I got dinner in the meantime. I called Doug. He was ticked. He wanted me to be able to go. I was really ticked at first, but by the time I talked with him, that subsided and I realized that they wouldn't have upset the apple cart unless absolutely necessary. To deal with rerouting 100+ people and their luggage isn't a small task. I didn't agree with the way they canceled our flight, though. Delay it by 3 hours, but DON'T cancel it. Sheesh.
So I let my Mom and Aunt Linda know on the way home from the airport. I didn't have Ginger's cell #.
For the weekend, I had even bought little treats, etc, for the kids, wrote out little notes, laminated them and was going to have Doug give them certain little things throughout the weekend. Just so they would know I was thinking about them. I bought a Chik Fil-A giftcard and wrote a note, asking if Ava could take Daddy and Liam to dinner. I bought a tube of refrigerated cookie dough, asking if Ava could help Daddy bake some chocolate chip cookies. Liam and Ava both got a magazine and Color Wonder pack each. But I gave it to them myself. :) Hey, I won't shrug away extra snuggles from my babes. :-)
My Mom described the shower to me. It sounds like it was absolutely beautiful. Over the top. She said she thought there were probably 100 people there! :) She said she took pictures of the little details that she knew I would've appreciated. I attached some pictures that were professionally taken. It looks gorgeous! I really wanted to see so many people I haven't seen in so long, and see Ginger's baby bump, too. I am SO happy that Ginger and Cali have been showered with so much love and support. This little girl is already so truly loved by so many. I know they can't wait to get their hands on her and give her a squeeze, but I'm thinking that's not likely, knowing Grandma Linda and Grampa Dan will be waiting in the wings! :-)
Peace, love and baby shower cuteness,
Shelly, Doug, Ava and Liam
No comments:
Post a Comment