Finally Home

I had an interesting trip home.  I was going to meet my husband who was flying from where he was, and we would fly the rest of the way together.  When I got to the check-in, they told me that the plane was full and that they would bump me to the next plane.

No way!  Now, most of the time, I am a mild enough person and usually don't mind too much being bumped if I am traveling alone - it is an adventure, right?  Go with it and see what happens.  But on the other end of that flight were four little kids who had sent their daddy off on a plane and then he didn't show when he was supposed to.  They would not understand a delay.  So I walked over to the desk, and told the lady - "Listen.  I have to be on that plane!  My kids have been through enough already."  I briefly explained the situation to her. "If that plane lands and only one parent comes off again, and one is missing, they just are NOT going to be able to cope with that."

It took her all of thirty seconds to find me a seat!  No where near my husband, but that was fine.  We were ON a plane headed home!

This plane was crowded!  And crowded with a huge group of wild teens with supervisors who cared little about how they acted.  They jumped over seats, played hide-and-seek in the bathrooms, slamming the doors, yelled across the plane to each other, and threw things down the length of the plane.  Over and over the flight attendants told them to quit, but they just laughed in their face.  I was ready to recommend them to the "no-fly" list!

Then we finally arrived.  My husband had been in a different section, so he appeared looking fresh and rested.  I dragged myself out of the plane with my head spinning!  We went through customs and immigration helping another lady who was traveling for the first time.  We waited for our bag, and then headed to the doors.

We stepped out of the sliding doors and were mobbed by four little ones hurling their bodies into our arms!  Laughing and crying, they hugged us and shoved pictures they had drawn for us in our faces.  They pulled our arms and grabbed our stuff, trying to get us to come - they had hatched up some great surprise for us!

My mom was behind them, looking tired, but relieved.  Trying not to cry also, so as not to ruin the kid's joy.  Waiting to hug my husband herself - to finally hug him and know he is safe.

We had asked people not to phone those first days.  We wanted time alone with our kids.  It was so great to go home and curl up with the kids.  After an hour or so, my husband stayed up with them since he had a quiet flight that he slept through, and I went to nap for an hour to recover from the wild teens on a plane!

We ate that evening all together, and my husband tucked his kids in bed.  Finally, finally, our oldest one cried, sobbing on his daddy's shoulder.

We were home.