As promised, here’s my God story….with a Heather twist…

All of the things that could’ve happened on all of my previous trips waited and happened on this one. No joke.

So, I told you my original 5:09p flight to Detroit was canceled due to the weather in Detroit and they rebooked me online for the 6:15. Having never had this happen before, I called Northwest to verify. They told me I was good to go. I waited a little longer and headed to the airport.

Simple, right? This happens all the time…

Not.

I bebop up to the Delta counter to check-in and Denise tells me that I need a voucher from Northwest. I explain my deal and she tells me that I need to go to the NWA counter. Of course, it’s all the way at the other end of the check in counters.

Off I go…I find the counter… no one is there — just a piece of paper that says “Flt [whatever the number was] to Detroit — CANCELED”

Well, no duh!

There’s a big sign that says I can call their customer service number with a big arrow pointing to the black phone. It doesn’t work.

So, I bebop back to Denise at the Delta counter. (Denise was extremely helpful and very nice.) She called down there to check and I called NWA on my cell phone. It’s now 5:45p and luckily the flight has been delayed. We’re looking at 6:26. There’s still time to make this flight.

While I’m on the phone “holding for the next available operator” I ask Denise about my connection in Atlanta. I only had 45 minutes to start and I have to go from “A” to “D” and if you’ve never been in the Atlanta airport, it’s 400 miles long (or at least that’s what it feels like when you’re running from “A” to “D”. Trust me, I’ve done it before only this time I didn’t have Becki begging them to hold the plane because her “sister” was coming — and even that didn’t work.)

Denise tels me that the 9:13 flight, my connection between Atlanta and my bed, was the last one to Roanoke for the night. Meaning, if I didn’t get on that flight, I wasn’t going home tonight.

I’m still on hold. Denise is still trying the NWA counter so I didn’t have to keep walking back and forth — because I didn’t bring my rolling bag… because this was an in and out trip for the most part and I didn’t feel like carrying two carryons. Suddenly that laptop case weighed 4 tons!

She tells me that someone is at the NWA counter and I head back down. By now, my flight has been delayed until 6:48 so there’s no way that I’ll make that connection.

When they finally acknowledged me, I asked her about my other options home.

After staring at me like I had two heads and typing something into the computer she looked at me and said, “You’re booked on the last flight out of Jackson for the day. Your options are to spend the night in Jackson or Atlanta.”

Before I left the station, I asked God that if it was in His will to see my kids then to make it obvious.

He did. He wanted me to see my kids.

I told her I would stick with what I got.

Back to the Delta counter I go to see Denise with my “Rule 122″ (which is their payment from NWA) to check my bag.

Denise is trying to leave and she has Marie check me in. I get my boarding pass, schedule my trip for the following day and Marie tells me that she wished everyone who experienced this could be as pleasant as me.

And I was pleasant. What else could I have done? Would yelling or screaming have made it any better? It is what it is.

(And this is where God stepped in again. Have you noticed that I, by nature, am not a patient person? No once did I get upset.)

I thanked both of them and headed down to security. On my way, I called my ride in Roanoke to tell her not to come, my neighbor to take care of the dog, and my mom to let her know that I’ll be in Atlanta in a few hours.

The security guard takes my boarding pass and pulls out his orange highlighter… “Congratulations, you’ve won a prize!” Great! I’ve been randomly selected for them to frisk me and search my bags. I laughed and said, “This is the icing on the cake.”

I went through all of that and when done, having missed dinner by this point, grabbed a diet coke and a bag of Doritos (and the John Wayne commemorative edition of Cowboys and Indians for my dad) and make my way to the gate.

We board and we sit there.

And we sit.

And we sit.

Now, on the flight down to Jackson there was a man sitting next to me who told the whole plane about how airlines are saving money by not turning the air on until the plane was filled. Ok, I’m as frugal as they come but when you have people who are cranky and hot because it’s a gazillion and one degrees in Jackson AND humid from a storm that just blew through and you’re not leaving in the forseeable future? TURN THE AIR ON!!!!

The pilot comes on and says, “Greetings from the flight deck. We’re not legally allowed to leave without a signed flight plan and we’re having trouble getting that from the company so I’m going to go in and manually do one. Should take about 10 minutes. I’ll be right back.”

So, I try to call my mom, however, thanks to the call to customer service and all the other calls I’ve made, I’ve got no cell phone juice. I kept calling and the phone kept going dead. I finally yelled, “pick me up at 9:30″ on the third time and it was a total guess. But at least they would know I was enroute.

Finally, we leave.

We touch down at 9:27… 14 minutes after that connecting flight left. I head to baggage claim, 200 miles away to get my luggage and pray that my dad is able to find me in this massive place. I found an outlet and called to tell him where I was… about that time, they pushed Dad into the parking lot. Great, now he has to park and get me which means I have time to find my bags out of a million Delta belts.

This is difficult. Roanoke has TWO baggage belts. I finally find one of the marquees that says Jackson and wait. I grab it and head out to wait outside.

Dad finds me and we walk 300 miles to the car. Did I mention that I’m in heels and that my laptop now weighs 6 tons?

“Maybe this wasn’t the best idea,” I say to Dad. “Maybe I should’ve just stayed in Jackson.”

“You just needed to call when you landed, then I could’ve circled around.” he said…

Pure genius, that Dad-o-mine is…. “I have no cell phone. I couldn’t call you until I found an outlet.”

“Oh. Well I’m only picking you up because I expect you to share in the rewards…” he said jokingly.

Ha ha ha… what rewards. I got nothing.

I explain to him about the flight and the ordeal and being randomly selected… he says, “Well, you are the daughter of someone on the terrorist watch list.” (Backing up, the last time Dad flew, someone with the same name as him was on the terrorist watch list and he has to go through so much just to get cleared. It wasn’t funny to him, at the time, but mom and I have been riding him about it.)

We get to the car. We drive to the hotel. I knock on the room door and when the door opened, there stood my babies.

Lots of hugs, lots of screaming, and lots of trying to go back and forth and listen to them both tell me all the things they’ve done over the last three weeks.

They had their own hotel room (because 3 adults, 2 children, a dog and a cat don’t fit well in one room) and we headed there to just play, talk, giggle, and visit. We did it all and were up well past midnight. We decided to get up to eat before I headed to the airport and Mom stated that they hadn’t been up before 9:30 any day this summer.

We were up at 7… and walked to the Waffle House for breakfast… just the three of us. We talked, I convinced Sam, I think, that she didn’t want to come home with me, and walked back to wait for my dad to come and get me.

We said our goodbyes and Dad dropped me off. I walked into the airport and immediately wanted to call him and tell him to come back and get me. I about had a panic attack right then and there. There were so many kiosks, people, agents, etc. I didn’t know where to go, but asked and got pointed in the right direction. After waiting for 20 minutes, it was my turn. (Just an FYI, you need more than an hour to get to your flight in Atlanta.)

Anna says to me, “Did you want to fly out on July 28th?”

I looked at her funny and replied, “No today. I’m booked on the 10:27.”

She walked away and came back.

“The 10:27 is oversold as is the 1:54,” she said.

“No, see, Marie booked me last night on the 10:27a since we knew I would miss my connection.”

Anna looked at me and said, “Yes, Marie booked you on the 10:27 but on July 28th…not for today. It’s oversold as is the 1:54. The next flight isn’t until 9:13″

I busted out laughing. I lost it. Right then and there. Not in a bad way. Like I said… I was rolling. She looked at me funny and walked away after typing a little bit and when she came back she had boarding passes in her hands.

“I have you on standby for the 1027a and the 154p and confirmed on the 913″ She handed me my passes and I was left to find security. I wasn’t in a rush. I called my mom and told her what was up. I called my boss to let him know where I was. I found what I thought was to be security, but after 10 minutes standing in line, I learned that it was for first class security…us peasants had to go somewhere else.

I got there and waited about 15 minutes and finally got to the security guard. She reviews my boarding pass and I see her pull out the orange highlighter.

I am the luckiest person on earth! I’ve been randomly selected twice in 24 hours…

Again, I am frisked and searched and sent on my way, all the while, laughing and talking to God about how funny He is.

I head the 200 miles to “C” terminal and then another 50 miles to my gate while having my little conversation with the big man and taking in all the sights and sounds. I’m telling Him that I really don’t want to sit in the airport all day. I tell Him that I’m not enjoying wearing the clothes that I wore on Monday and that my bag is heavy and that I really just want to be at home. But I also thank Him for allowing me to see the kids and that this was all worth it. I then ask that I get on the plane that will get me home in His time, not my time and that if I were to be stuck here, that I use it to my advantage.

About the time I get to my gate I hear “Paging Delta Customer Heather Jacobson…please come to the gate counter.”

I raise my hand and say, “Yo! That’s me!” (Yes, that actually came out of my mouth.)

He hands me a boarding pass.

I ask if I have a seat on this plane and he replied yes.

I take the boarding pass and turn to go and sit and wait.

“Ma’am, they’re leaving now. We were waiting on you.”

Didn’t I feel dumb but I was on that plane faster than you can say you know what.

And at 12:01pm I landed. And I found my luggage waiting for me. And my friend who asked, “Wasn’t that what you were wearing when I dropped you off?”

Why, yes… yes it is.

22 hours after I left the station, I was home. I could’ve driven from Jackson to Roanoke and back in that time. But I was home.

And I got to see my kids.

And that, my dear readers, was worth it all.

Until next time…

A very tired Heather

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