Grad Week 2017 Part I

Several months ago my SIL and I discussed her coming to visit. She does this every year. She swears she is coming in February and then she doesn't come. I don't even get excited any more because I'm use to the disappointment. I blame my brother. This year after February came and went with her telling me she was still planning on coming, I just nodded. But then she suggested she would come during the week that her daughter would be out west on a senior trip, and suddenly, I thought maybe this would happen. I told her that was the week Darcy was graduating and we agreed this would be fantastic. When she sent me a text telling me to check my email, I knew she had booked her flight. It was exciting.

About three days before she was due to arrive, I looked at everything I needed to do that week and thought how this was not a good week for visitors as I would be darn busy and wouldn't have time to entertain. My SIL for the most part is quite content to sit all day by my pool, but she does need some transportation for things like food and the beach. So I worried some, but not really because I've learned from her to say, "Hey, this is what is happening, you knew that, deal with it. I'm sorry." I knew she would be fine, and I was excited about having her here because she always brings sunshine and levity. And my dog loves her and follows her everywhere, and after my week with him that was HUGE.

My SIL flies Allegiant. It flies out of her small airport into my small airport that is about fifteen minutes from my house and the entire trip is a little over two hours give or take tail wind. It's perfect. The only problem is Allegiant. They have been in the news for the past year regarding old planes, a CEO of a now defunct airline due to a crash, several electrical issues, a pilot strike, and yada, yada, yada. Since that airline is 90% of our local airport, the other 10% being UPS, it is a big deal here in our area, and so Allegiant, and it's troubles, is in our newspaper almost daily.

My SIL was scheduled to arrive on Sunday at 2:04 p.m. I had lost several days of sleep due to the dog so I thought this a great time as I could nap after church and before going to pick her up. Unfortunately, she texted that her flight was delayed due to mechanical issues. It wouldn't depart for two more hours. Great. Two more hours of sleep! I settled down. My phone kept going off with texts as my SIL informed me of more delays and more delays until finally the entire flight was canceled for the day. What?

My phone finally rang and my SIL tells me that she has found another flight leaving Indianapolis later that evening. My brother, very unhappily, agreed to leave work, drive her the three hours to Indy for her to catch this 8:00 flight. He would then drive three more hours to return home. I was shocked. I also thought my SIL had lost her mind. I kept asking my family why she would do this when Chicago and Southwest, my favorite airline, were only an hour and a half drive away. I mean, WHAT?

My SIL hates flying. She isn't a good traveler, and when she is solo, something she rarely does, she is a wreck. The fact that she was going to a large airport was unheard of, and so I worried. My nap was out of the question. I kept telling my older daughter that Monday would just be a wash as I knew my SIL would have a migraine and need to recover from this experience. I was beside myself with stress for her. Not to mention, my brother. For him to do this drive on a work day? What was happening? I should have been WAY more suspicious then I was, but again, lack of sleep.

My SIL got to Indy and an hour or so later she texts me that this flight has now been delayed. Seriously? I was a crazy woman worrying about her. But she was SnapChatting away with pictures of the airport and with selfies of herself in an empty airport and so on. I did finally comment to my kids that she was certainly handling this like a champ, which was odd, but her attitude and persona is very differently since her journey with cancer and so I wasn't as suspicious as I should have been. I was just excited she was coming.

The flight finally took off at 12:40 a.m. on Monday morning with an arrival of 2:54 a.m. my time. I decided not to sleep. Hell, at that point I didn't even remember what sleep was. Darcy and Tom went to bed, and Madison and I stayed up. We left to get them at 2:20 a.m. and we were the only people in the airport at that time of the morning. Everyone else sat in their cars to pick up curbside. It took forever for the plane to disembark, but Madison entertained me with college stories, and it was during one of those stories that my SIL arrived, waving and smiling like it was 8:00 in the morning. Next to her, walking toward me, was my cousin Jaimee.

Jaimee: "Am I family? I thought I just married your cousin."
Me: "Uh, sorry, you're in the family now, you lucky little thing you."

Jaimee, is the one I wrote about last week after she wrote such lovely things about me on her blog. I was a tad confused upon seeing her, and for some reason, my first thought was an angry one. I looked at her as Susan yelled surprise and I thought, "Why did she not tell me she was here for a medical conference?" She runs an entire hospital or something at her job and so I just knew she was here, in the land of old people and hospitals, for a medical conference, and my anger stemmed from the thought that she could have been using The Condo or staying with me instead of shacking up in a hotel. I thought this through hugs, conversation, and luggage claim. It wasn't until she began following us outside that I realized she was here for vacation Darcy's graduation. Surprise! My next thought was, "Where will she sleep?"

After that, it was all excitement. I promise. Truly it was. This woman tells stories that will have you laughing until peeing your pants and leaving you with your mouth agape. I made her tell her bat story three times, and now I wished I had taped her telling it because it should be a video on this blog. Truly. It's that good. She single handedly gets the bad guys, and has a one on one relationship with the FBI, and she has the stories to back that up. She's awesome.

So we drove home and stayed up until after 5:00 a.m. talking. We were up again in three hours because since cancer my SIL calls four hours a good night's sleep. I felt as a hostess I needed to be up with her. Either that or I had to go to the bathroom. I can't remember. Thus began the week and my sleep deprivation.