nojomo1:dragging an old man through 3 airports

Yeah, we’ll see how long I keep this up.

I am beyond exhausted, having returned from the Delaware Trip last night and not having the sense to take today off too. Well, I did consider it but didn’t want to get further behind since it’s Senior Clearing/Mass Panic Time. Now I’m wishing I’d been less conscientious. And kind of thinking a Mental Health Day may be in order later in the week.

The trip was partially very nice — the getting to see my cousins part was wonderful, and even though we have seen a LOT of each other this year (I’ve been up there three times now since January and we all met in Roanoke for Cousin E’s Son’s Wedding in September), I am always very happy to spend time with them and that never gets old. So that part was great. However, it was also sad and upsetting, as Cousin E’s mom is still in the hospital, and was not up to having visitors for long, so she and Daddy didn’t get to spend much time together at all and what they did get certainly wasn’t quality time. I felt AWFUL about it. She was terribly weak and could barely talk, and would fall asleep constantly. We went to the hospital Saturday and Sunday, and Daddy sat in the room with her, but we were all afraid of tiring her out even more. And she’d really looked forward to the visit, so that made me feel even worse. It’s not a trip we can make very often- well, we’ve done it three times since January which sure seems often, but we can’t just turn around and run back up there in a few weeks when she’s feeling better, if she DOES feel better. I was honestly pretty horrified, but apparently she was this sick or worse in the spring -they didn’t think she’d live – and she bounced back over the summer and was doing very well until last week.

So, that part was the bad part. But not much you can do about it.

I am exhausted mostly because traveling with Daddy is like dragging around a very talkative giant toddler. I had to do EVERYTHING. That just hit me last night, when I was wondering why I was so wiped out – it was actually a very non-eventful journey, and everything went well. Mostly. We did get delayed on the flight from Charlotte to Philadelphia Saturday, thanks to the bad weather. Our flight sat on the runway for an hour before taking off, but they did at least warn us that it would be an hour, so we were prepared. And it was not EIGHT hours. And we actually were only something like half an hour late arriving in Philly. I don’t know how they do that. Then I somehow managed to end up at the "Departures" area instead of the "Arrivals" area where Cousin MJ was picking us up – she waited in the cell phone lot then drove over to get us when we arrived- so we were like six lanes of traffic and concrete barriers away from where we should have been, and she thought driving around to get us would be easier than us trying to get back to the RIGHT spot (which, incidentally, I’ve managed to locate on the last two trips without any problem so I still don’t know how I did that), and she ended up missing the departures exit twice so kept circling around in the wrong places while her small children laughed at her and I stood in the snow/sleet/freezing rain where I had to be so she’d not miss seeing me when she finally did find the right exit. Luckily Daddy could hang out inside, but he of course kept popping out to wonder what was going on and if MJ was lost and if I should call her again and if maybe we should try going somewhere else… AAGGHH!!!

But even when things are going well, it’s kind of grueling, because I have to do absolutely everything. I have to make the reservations, pack the bags (at least help him pack his bag), carry all the bags (he’s been having some back problems so I didn’t want him making it worse by carrying luggage, and that really wasn’t hard- he just had one rolling suitcase which was very light because unlike me he does not feel the need to carry everything he owns along with him on a trip and was okay with one change of clothes and a baggie with a few toiletries), locate the security line, guide us through the security line by putting his suitcase on the conveyor belt and putting my suitcase on the conveyor belt and making sure he takes his belt off and puts it in the bin and that he puts everything in his pockets in the bin and that he puts his cane in the bin and his jacket in the bin and then I undo his velcro shoe things for him since he can’t bend down to do it himself without tipping over and put THEM in the bin and then I have to get everything out of my own pockets and throw that in my bin and put my jacket in the bin and put my fleecy vest in the bin and get my shoes off and take my netbook out of my shoulder bag and oh yeah put both our baggies of liquids into the bins although oddly I totally forgot to do that when we went through security in Philly and they didn’t notice so that was kind of weird…. and then I have to make sure everything is getting shoved on into the scanner thing (while all the business people piling up behind us are glaring and tapping their feet) and then after we’ve gone through the people-scanner – or I have, and he gets The Pat-Down since he has a defibrillator and can’t get scanned – THEN I have to do it all in REVERSE and make sure he gets his shoes and belt and cane and pocket stuff and billfold and jacket and I have to get MY shoes and jacket and fleecy vest and pocket stuff and netbook and both our baggies of liquids and his suitcase and my suitcase and my shoulder bag and my netbook and jam everything all back where it belongs while trying to get out of everyone else’s way……

THEN I have to ask where we go to get a cart ride to the gate and I have to look at my ticket for the ten zillionth time to see what gate we’re going to and I have to herd him into the cart and show the boarding passes and then we generally have to change carts a few times (THREE times on the last Charlotte leg) and when we finally arrive at the gate I’ve got to pick a seat for us and then I have to look at the ticket again for the ten zillionth time to see when the flight is actually boarding and I have to listen to the announcements and I have to spot the bathrooms and point him in the right direction and I have to at least go get myself some coffee and if it’s lunchtime in Charlotte I have to to go locate $10 sandwiches and then lie about how much they cost since I don’t want him to pay $27 for two pre-wrapped sandwiches and a coke and a water when he’s already paid for the tickets and everything else….. and then when they call for boarding I have to be alert and ready to leap into line for the "everyone who needs extra time" boarding which is not easy when you have to jam stuff back into your bag and throw stuff away and find your boarding passes yet again and shove past all the impatient Business People.

And then I have to maneuver our two carry-ons and my shoulderbag and Daddy down the ramp and into the plane and find our seats and stow our stuff and get him buckled in since he has not once been able to figure out how the seatbelt thing works without about twenty minutes of effort and commentary about it.

And then we get to the next airport and I do it all again. In reverse.

All the while listening to the steady stream of Daddy Chatter, because Daddy is quite the chatterbox. Which is fine until I am trying to figure out gates and times and carts and ramps and boarding passes and arrivals and departures and and and and AAAAGGGGHHHH!!!!!!!!

Yes. Yes, I AM just a tad exhausted and overwhelmed and I am kind of needing some Quiet Alone Time which has been in short supply these past few days!!

BUT it was, for the MOST part, a good trip. And I am, despite all this whining, very glad that Daddy is still able to make this trip — and that we’re able to fly instead of driving, because that was BEYOND grueling and I’d probably not still be alive to write about it had we driven.

And now I really need to get off the computer. Because not only am I exhausted and needing to go to bed, I am also sitting upright at Baker B’s computer instead of lying prone on the couch using my laptop. Because guess what I did last night? After flying from Philly to Charlotte to Asheville dragging along a giant chatty toddler, then doing his bills and updating his calendar and then driving back up to Boone? I.Dropped.My.Laptop. I DROPPED MY LAPTOP INTO THE FLOOR AND NOW THE MONITOR IS ALL FUCKED UP AND THE COLORS ARE BIZARRE AND I AM VERY VERY UPSET. I only dropped it like eight INCHES, I was on the couch and I leaned over and it slipped out of my hands and right into the floor. I have never ever EVER dropped my laptop and I am VERY VERY CAREFUL with my laptop and I burst into tears and cried for an hour and Baker B assured me that I am not a careless idiot and I was going to have to get another one anyhow because it’s been acting weird for awhile and it’s going on four years old and they don’t last that long and it probably just committed suicide and he searched for new laptops for me on Dell and I continued to weep over it because I LOVE my laptop and I don’t WANT another laptop and I was very very very VERY TIRED and WAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!

So. Yeah. Meltdown. And before I have another one I am going to bed. Tomorrow I will post pictures, if I manage to make NoJoMo 2. But here’s one to tide you over:

Tyson. Cutest. Dog. Ever.