A long flight home...

A couple weeks ago Olivia and I were able to head south to stay with my sister and visit family and friends. We had a great time. We laughed, we ate, we drank. We stayed up late. REALLY late. I went to HEB. I snickered as I purchased wine at said amazing grocery store with my child in tow (something that isn't legal where we currently live). And I snickered again as I smuggled it home in my suitcase.

Yes, after a week of quality time with people I love, staying up late for great convos with my peeps, drinking lots of coffee in the mornings to wake up, and generally running around like a chicken with my head cut off, I was glad to return home. I was SO glad to see Andrew. I was glad to slow down and get some sleep. I was glad for my stress/caffeine induced eye twitch to go away.

Eye twitch? Yes, it's true. But I wore it proudly; like Diane Chambers from Cheers who could never tell a lie without her eye twitching. Okay, so maybe it wasn't that bad. I'll blame it on the stress of travel. I'm very grateful to have been able to fly, but flying alone and flying with an infant are two very different things.

Maybe it was the juggling my baby, a purse/diaper bag, car seat and two suitcases that put a crick in my neck. Olivia was actually pretty good on the way down. The flight wasn't overbooked, so we were able to bring her car seat into the open seat next to me. She waved at all the stewardesses and smiled at the strangers as I plead with the Lord for her to be good during the flight. It turns our she's a pretty decent traveler. She enjoyed loud engine noises, turbulence, and the bumpy landing. It was all fun and games. That is until the trip back home...

After a week of hanging out with my sister, getting little sleep, and enjoying every second of what I refer to as a "tsunami of relationship refreshing", I was exhausted. The day we were to fly out, I told my brother I wanted to make sure we had plenty of time getting to the airport. For the first time in years of my flying experience, there was no line at the interrogation...urr...baggage check line, or security check. We flew through. Well, if you regard juggling a child, car seat, and suitcase whilst having to half undress so they can make sure you're not smuggling such evil things as over 4 ounces of breast-milk. *ahem* By the time we got to our gate, I had to do a double check. The destination of the flight was a different location than ours, so I had to stand in line a while before finding out our flight was running late and we had an hour and a half to wait.

No big deal. We could wait. Being early is better than being late, right? Besides, I was armed. Not in the "Ma'am, you can't take a weapon on the plane...we have to arrest you." kind of way, but armed as in prepared. Oh yes, I had snacks in my purse! Olivia was pretty content to munch on cucumbers and red bell peppers...but only for so long. And I could only make exaggeratedly happy faces for so long. I was growing weary. Our flight was delayed for 30 minutes beyond when we were supposed to board, and it was getting really close to the time my folk's plane was supposed to land. (They'd gone on a trip, hence my coming to stay w/ sis.) I wondered if we would be able to see them but didn't think it would happen.

A plane finally pulled up to our gate and as Olivia had met several nice people where we were camped, she waved "bye-bye" as we got in line to board. Lest I forget, in our waiting, I also let her play with my phone, which she pulled to her face and said "Hi, Dada!". A lady nearby heard her, and with a dropped jaw said "OH WOW! It totally sounded like she said "Hi Dada"!" Not phased by my genius child, I casually replied: "Yes, she did."

So, where was I? Oh yes, it was a great relief to finally board our plane. As I sat down in my seat, a man I could almost swear (if I were the swearing type) was Dick Cheney informed me that I could not keep my bag under my chair, but had to stow it in the above bin. He also offered to stow it for me. I thanked him, but not wanting to be far from my bag of keep-Olivia-quiet essentials, asked the stewardess if it was so. Alas, she said it had to be put up, and Mr. Cheney quickly jumped in again to help me put my bag above my head. Yes, thank you.

I managed to grab some essentials out of my bag, one of which was my phone. I had no sooner snatched it up before I got a series of texts from my Mom. It went something like this:
Mom: Our plane has just landed! Are you still here?
Me: Yes, we are, but just boarded!
Mom: Which gate are you?
Me: 38b...are buckled in waiting on a few passengers.
Mom: WHAT? WE ARE STANDING AT YOUR GATE! Can't Olivia make a scene and you'll have to get off for a few minutes?

Worn out and sad that my parents were at the gate we'd left just minutes before made me want to cry. There was no way we were missing our flight home to Andrew, so I just sat there feeling rather defeated. The last passenger boarded and as he passed us, he paused, looked down at Olivia and said "Little lady, I just saw your grandparents at the gate." Upon hearing that, I choked. I did my very best to hold back my tears, but a few squeezed through. I may be a grown woman, but it's still hard to say goodbye to your parents, and especially when you're so close and are unable to say goodbye.

We endured the flight. Dick Cheney was courteous and asked if the sun coming through his window was too bright for my baby. I thanked him but said it was fine. At least I had some kind of excuse for why I still had a tear in my eye. Olivia loved the take off and treated me like a human jungle gym once we were leveled out. I was thankful to have packed a bag of kid friendly cereal (non-gmo, gluten-free...in case you were wondering). What I had not accounted for was that Olivia, having grown accustomed to the cereal, decided that instead of eating the cereal like she had every time before, chose to do something different. This new way of eating involved picking it up, putting it in her mouth, and making it all mushy with her saliva before pulling it back out of her mouth, either to push it in again to eat it, or to just leave a soggy cereal on her shirt. She was entertained. I was not. Whenever I tried to put the mushy reject cereal in her mouth, she would cry and rub here eyes. She had already missed two naps and I was walking a tightrope trying to keep her happy. I tried to be as creative with whatever might entertain her (with what little I had); a plastic airline cup, my phone, and a teething ring which made strange shadows on the wall with the sun coming from Dick Cheney's window. Oh yes, and more extremely exaggerated happy faces were made.

By the end of the flight, I had leaked a few tears, grown generally more weary of traveling, and because of my daughter's strange behavior with her cereal, an extreme sense of Mom-duty led me to eat a few soggy cereal bits to avoid them hitting the floor or heaven forbid, the former Vice President's nice shoes. *sigh* We began our descent, we hit the runway, and I called my hero to tell him we'd finally arrived.

Now I'm not sure how this happened, but each time I went to baggage pick up, my luggage wasn't with all the other passenger's on my plane. I'd follow everyone down to claim my suitcase, but both times my baggage would churn along on a separate rotating thingy before anyone else's did. Does the airline have a loaded-down-Mother's baggage area? Whatever the reason, my suitcase was always super easy to find; a gift I credit to the Lord for helping me make it through.

Never in all my days was I so glad to see Andrew when I saw him pull in to passenger pick up. He was wearing jeans, a white button-up shirt and his cowboy hat. I swooned, but not from utter exhaustion. He grabbed several of the things weighing me down, put Olivia in her place, picked me up off the ground and well...umm...I got a really nice homecoming smooch. Ahh, how good it was to be home again!

So that my friends is the story of why I never desire to travel alone with an infant. If any future circumstance warrant another such traveling event, I'm taking one of you with me! ;)