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| Ice on the ground, the wing, in the giant pile blocking part of the neighboring jet... |
We made it! I find it hard to believe but it is 3:52 a.m. local time, and we are finally home and checking in. Today could have been much worse, but I wish it went much better.
We wake up around noon after a fun late night with friends. Mom is amazing and had a mock Thanksgiving dinner ready for us since I missed getting to have it this year. The gravy, turkey, stuffing, and potatoes are so, so yummy. I wish I could have leftovers. We packed our bags before we went to bed so we pack the car, say good-bye to sissy, and head out into the freezing rain. If you don't look closely it looks like snow in the yards, but it is multitudes of ice pellets.
D and I nap a little as Dad masters the slick highways and traffic. We stop at the Oasis for a quick potty break and my least favorite Christmas song is playing. Mom laughs. We make it safely back to the car, so grateful to be leaving this weather far behind. At the airport Dad drops us off and we give hugs, say good-byes, and head to drop off our check bag.
The line is huge! We can't believe how big it is and how slowly it moves. D takes a walk to check things out and returns with a tag for our bag. Since we did everything possible online we were able to skip this huge line and hand our bag right over. Whew, much time saved. The people stuck in the long line are people who are looking for new flights because theirs were cancelled. I feel very bad for them.
The information boards say that our flight is delayed about two hours but not cancelled. We can handle a delay as long as we get on a plane to get D home before work. Security has no line since most people are stuck looking for a flight. My lower pant-
leg lights up for them to pat down. It's always interesting seeing what shows up on those machines. With our bags in hand and shoes back on our feet we pass yet another really long line of passengers waiting for customer service. I'm talking Disney at Christmas length lines, or just about.
At our terminal we are lucky enough to find two seats together then a gentleman is kind enough to make room for us to sit and plug in our laptops. We get a half hour of free wi-fi that allows D to find that our gate was moved. Around 6 p.m. we grab Chinese food and a sub sandwich. We sit in line for Group 3 at our gate and enjoy the Chinese while looking hopefully at the jet parked outside. After I hear from two official sources that the airbus outside is not for us we get a little discouraged and begin sending mental wishes for the airbus to move out of the way. Our jet is supposed to be landing in about 5 minutes.
Flight departure time gets pushed back to 7:45, then 7:50, then a buzz starts around us. We hear people saying that our gate has been moved and flight time pushed back to 8:30. The entire gate full of passengers moves to our next gate much to the surprise of a couple flight attendants who were checking the nearby information board.
Since D's work smart phone hasn't arrived yet we are left at the mercy of info boards to verify what is happening. We find seats at the far end of the terminal and take turns checking the board while playing games on Steam. With half an hour remaining and voices coming from distant P.A.s we head closer to make sure we can hear when boarding begins. Another LA flight (originally scheduled at a later time than ours, but happens to be on time compared with our very delayed flight) just boarded and freed up a lot of seats.
Flight delayed to 8:59, I rest my head on D's shoulder and try to nap a bit.
Flight delayed to 9:59. We catch each other's eyes and return to nap attempt.
Flight delayed to 10:00. Really? We head back to the far seats and plug in again for a little more gaming. We each take a potty break and watch the delays grow. After hearing two rounds of cheering coming from our crowd we make our way back and stand in a non-line line. The plane is here and the doors are opening!
Once seated we relax happily knowing that at least one more step is accomplished. I watch out the window as plows pile the ice and fight the flooding that sweeps the ice right back under and behind the machines. Two jets get de-iced as they pull out of their gates. Our wings are quite iced and I'm eager to watch them de-ice us.
The conveyor belt drives up beneath us followed by two trains of baggage. The plane is so silent from sleepy and weary passengers that I can hear some of the bags land below us. Another truck pulls up, does something with a hose and pipe in the ground then leaves. A white truck pulls up then drives away again. The plows keep pushing the ice as far up their piles as their spinning wheels will allow them to reach. Finally the air is turned off and the de-icing begins. I worry as they spray our side's wing and nothing seems to happen. Over and back the spray goes and the ice remains unmoved. Suddenly the spray nozzle starts moving, almost shaking in a Pixar fashion as though it is frustrated and it pummels the ice which finally starts sliding off the wing.
I am very excited to see a man with orange wands appear. Like magic we begin reversing, and a small army of vehicles leads us to the bone-dry runway. As I chuckle at Michael Cain on The Late Show we fly into the clouds toward freedom. The flight is mostly smooth and goes quickly with Celebrity Name Game, The Newlywed Game, Parks and Recreation marathon, and finally a survival show as LA lights brighten the ground below. I have never heard such a quiet disembarkation.
Our bag is waiting for us beside the carousel and we don't wait too long for our bus. We did valet parking this time since self-parking was quite stressful over Thanksgiving. The stress now is that it isn't waiting for us when we reach the garage. My car enjoys auto-locking so we were worried leaving it behind after one of the drivers shut our door with the key inside. D goes into customer service to do the paperwork and our car still doesn't show up. I look in and D is standing off to the side as everyone else is getting helped. His eyes are glassy, he's fidgety and seems to be avoiding eye contact. My heart starts racing. Did they lose my car? A soft engine sound approaches from a higher level and I am so relieved to see Anna Marie (she picked the name and you don't argue with a Civic) pull up. D's fatigue and cold combination faked me out; everything is fine.
I call my mom and reach my sissy instead. She asks me to message her when we reach our apartment. There is so little traffic that D gets to use cruise control for possibly the first time ever in LA. I pop in one last throat lozenge and relax. Step 6 of 6 is underway. We'll be home soon.
I unlock the door for D to carry in the bags and hand him the key to check the mail. I turn on the dining room light but it doesn't light up. I try the kitchen and it remains dark. Crud. I wait on the front step to share the bad news and D heads straight to the breaker box once I locate the flashlight. Flipping switches produces no result. Now begins the search through mail for a cancellation notice (they tried messing up on us once already), but when no notice is found we call Edison to find out what's up. D's phone is nearly dead so he uses mine. The representative we finally reach says our best hope is flipping the outside breakers to off, waiting a few minutes, then trying on after we make sure anything that was on is now unplugged. My phone battery doesn't have much juice left but I try calling our management office to let them know what happened as D tries his luck outside.
Just as I reach the voicemail box D returns with good news, he found the switch. We unplug or turn off what we need to then he tries the power switches outside and turns on the ones inside. We flip a switch and finally the trials of our day reach their end. Now he sleeps because he is getting his work computers set up at 8:30 and I want him to have a safe commute. A little note to brighten our day before bed is a video of Darth Vader saying some very Christmasy phrases. We gave that ornament to our friends during yesterday's ornament exchange and coincidentally they gave us a talking Chevy Chase from National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation. We are eager to see what he has to say.
As crazy as our day was I am just very grateful to be home safe and sound and that my parents made it back safely, too. I don't think Dad will let us talk him into being our driver next Christmas. I hope you all had a safe and warm Monday and that the weather conditions didn't mess up your plans too much. Last year was a bad December 28 and this year's is another for the history book. I really hope next year has a better 28th for everyone.
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