Travel

The trip started off just as I expected, delayed due to weather. It wasn’t too bad, just a little over an hour, which got me into Chicago a little past nine at night. I called my Dear Wife as soon as we landed. I was to take the subway downtown after I picked up my luggage and meet at the hotel. We met in the baggage claim area. Surprise! See, DW through and through. We cabbed it downtown and caught up over Guiness and appetizers at an Irish pub.

Saturday we had a rental and DW, my son, daughter and daughter-in-law headed to my sister’s house in the burbs for our family Christmas celebration. The weather held and we had a great time eating too much and making fun of the gifts my Dear Mother gave to everyone. Sunday it was back to the airport to drop off my daughter. Albany’s airport was closed and all flights were cancelled. Fortunately she could stay at a great aunt’s house overnight and catch another flight Monday, her birthday. She was given the last seat on the last available flight and her seat was in First Class. Happy Birthday, Dear Daughter! Our visit was way too short.

We had debated staying in Chicago one more day, renting a room near the airport and seeing my DD to the plane, yet we had DM with us and yet another sister and her family were due to arrive at DM’s house from Pennsylvania, plus my brother’s daughters, my Dear Nieces, were coming to visit as well. (You will get to know some of these people a bit better as I catch up with my writing over the next several days.) We wanted to get downstate as soon as possible as it was below zero with 30 and 40 mph winds and drifting snow. It was 200 miles of white-knuckled driving, hopped up on some of the worse coffee I have ever had in my life.

This morning we checked our flight status when we woke up. On schedule. An hour later at the airport, we saw that our flight was delayed by two hours. We would miss our connection in Chicago and there were no seats available on later flights. We knew this was a possibility and kept repeating that we would just “go with the flow.” An hour later our plane was in the terminal, we were on board and would have 1/2 hour to make our flight back to Portland. The flight to Portland was delayed by another 1/2 hour. Both we and our luggage made it.

Our cats have been at a boarder this week. The plan was to get into Portland by 2:30, get to our car and beat feet to pick them up before 5:00 when the proprietor had to go to church services. We arrived at our car at 4:15, so we knew we wouldn’t make it in time. Plus, the car had an 1/4-inch of ice on it. Seems that Portland had one of the worse storms in thirty years earlier this week. I chipped it off with a credit card, backed over a two-foot drift of snow and set out for the hour and a half drive home, which took three hours. The roads still had ice on them, in some places four inches thick with ruts for tires to follow. Big fun.

We’re home. We opened our presents to each other, cleaned house in preparation for a friend’s visit tomorrow, listened to Handel’s “Messiah” and DW is tucked in for the night. I have a scotch at my side, a Macallan’s Cask Strength that my (dear) brother-in-law gave me for Christmas. And since it is now Christmas Day, it seems only appropriate to toast my Dear Loved Ones and Friends. Endurance, Understanding, Peace and Joy!