Those two movies played themselves out last weekend as Patrick, Lucy, and I traveled to Chicago for my cousin's wedding. Chicago.....did I blink because I may have missed it. The plan was to catch a flight to Chicago early on Saturday. A direct flight. Less than two hours. Then once in Chicago visit with family for several hours, take a nap, hit a wedding, sleep in a fancy hotel, and catch a flight back home by 9am. Chicago in less than one day so that the four children remaining at home wouldn't miss us too much. And so the house at home wouldn't show four children and a babysitter had been their for 24 hours without a parent.
Well, didn't quite go that way. Half an hour before landing at O'Hare the pilot let us know there were bad storms on the ground and we would circle for 30 minutes. Thirty minutes later he let us know O'Hare had closed. We had little fuel and could circle no longer. We were heading to Indianapolis to refuel. We hit Indianapolis. The passengers got cranky (remember this was supposed to be a direct flight....who packs snacks for that?) We were allowed off the plane for thiry minutes to grab food. We reboarded and had wheels up at 3pm......Wedding at 4:30. No nap, no visiting relatives. Would we make it? Luckily, I had just read a childrens chapter book with my kids and the one thing that stuck with me was how the mom remained cheerful through the book despite the adversity and challenges of raising those Mitchell children (read any of the books in the Mitchell series......I love them). Throught the airplane fiasco, my mind kept turning to her and kept telling Patrick " we must remain cheerful". It worked.
We hit O'Hare at 3:45.....it was a 45 minute metro ride (train) into downtown. Too close, so we surpassed the $5 train for a $40 taxi. We got to the outdoor wedding site as all were seated and in place for the wedding. We were in our shorts.....we changed in the middle of the street. This took finesse, but we did it. We sat down as the bride walked up the aisle. All a success. We danced, and saw relatives, and ate, and drank. I watched the little nephews at the wedding. One, the ring bearer, ended up in the fountain to his waist. In his tux. I emptied the water out of his shoes while laughing. Only on my watch. Anyhow, we checked into the hotel at 11pm. The Palmer house is a very pretty hotel from what I can remember....we checked out by 7am so not much time to process details. We did get to ride the train back to the airport, where we boarded a plane that made it all the way from Chicago to Charlotte without stopping. Only it was a very, very bumpy flight....we almost tossed our breakfast before we landed.
I'm happy to be home for a while, until a road trip in October.
Well, didn't quite go that way. Half an hour before landing at O'Hare the pilot let us know there were bad storms on the ground and we would circle for 30 minutes. Thirty minutes later he let us know O'Hare had closed. We had little fuel and could circle no longer. We were heading to Indianapolis to refuel. We hit Indianapolis. The passengers got cranky (remember this was supposed to be a direct flight....who packs snacks for that?) We were allowed off the plane for thiry minutes to grab food. We reboarded and had wheels up at 3pm......Wedding at 4:30. No nap, no visiting relatives. Would we make it? Luckily, I had just read a childrens chapter book with my kids and the one thing that stuck with me was how the mom remained cheerful through the book despite the adversity and challenges of raising those Mitchell children (read any of the books in the Mitchell series......I love them). Throught the airplane fiasco, my mind kept turning to her and kept telling Patrick " we must remain cheerful". It worked.
We hit O'Hare at 3:45.....it was a 45 minute metro ride (train) into downtown. Too close, so we surpassed the $5 train for a $40 taxi. We got to the outdoor wedding site as all were seated and in place for the wedding. We were in our shorts.....we changed in the middle of the street. This took finesse, but we did it. We sat down as the bride walked up the aisle. All a success. We danced, and saw relatives, and ate, and drank. I watched the little nephews at the wedding. One, the ring bearer, ended up in the fountain to his waist. In his tux. I emptied the water out of his shoes while laughing. Only on my watch. Anyhow, we checked into the hotel at 11pm. The Palmer house is a very pretty hotel from what I can remember....we checked out by 7am so not much time to process details. We did get to ride the train back to the airport, where we boarded a plane that made it all the way from Chicago to Charlotte without stopping. Only it was a very, very bumpy flight....we almost tossed our breakfast before we landed.
I'm happy to be home for a while, until a road trip in October.
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