Mom Story of the Week (2/06/09) – What’s Yours?
ByOur Mom Story of the Week is from Christie Arseneau, recent winner of our Road Warrior contest and a copy of our new book, My Mommy’s on a Business Trip. Here’s an update on Christie’s latest adventure:
From Christie:
So, here is the conclusion of my trip to Michigan last week. I was in Muskegon, thinking that I could catch the earlier flight but ended up staying as the work with the client went just a little too long to catch that flight. That was OK, I figured I still had a seat on my normal flight. When all was done, and I was at my “bingo-fuel” time (pilot speak – the point at which a pilot either has to continue on to their destination or turn around and go back to where the nearest airport – either you “go” on or you “no go” and turn around to go back) and I had to go. I got lost getting back to the airport, which was quite an achievement being in such a small town AND having a navigation system. When I turned the car in, the rental car attendant told me that the earlier flight was cancelled (good thing I stayed with the client!) – the airline said there was about a 30 minute delay. I had a 60 minute layover in Detroit, so I thought I was still good. The 30 minute delay turned into 60, the flight was short and we pulled into the gate. Had we gotten off the plane right away, I could have possibly made the connection – especially since I’ve been jogging now. I think I could easily shave a second or two off my intra-terminal sprint time. No luck for me, not only was there no ramp crew waiting, when they finally showed up, the jetway was frozen shut and wouldn’t budge. So, Northwest Airlines made me their personal guest in the City of Detroit overnight.
At this point, I was pretty bummed as I had already been gone for 5 days. However, I spent the delayed time in Muskegon looking at alternate flight options. I talked my way onto an earlier flight that landed at 8:30am in Houston and took my $13 dinner credit (yes, only $13) straight to the Sushi bar for takeout. I had a nice talk with the Iraqi shuttle bus driver and settled into the hotel with my sushi, edamame, and wine. Still being pretty bummed about the situation, I poured out my little bottle of wine into a plastic hotel room cup and stared at it in the solace of the crappy little room I was given….I started thinking. The glass is half full.
Had I managed to complete a personal best making a dash for my next gate and actually making that connection, I would have landed at 9:30 pm – past baby’s bed time and I would have only been able to tuck her in then go to sleep myself. With the situation I was handed, I’m landing 11 hours later – baby will be up and ready to play all day! The glass is half full.
There are so many sayings about turning lemons into lemonade or limes into margarita or whatever…. Sometimes when I’m put into a crappy situation, or a crappy Days Inn room as was the case in Detroit, I just have to take a deep breath and remember that the glass is half full. The upside is that I was still going home, but now I’d be going home to a well rested, ready to play baby. The smile on her face when I saw her at baggage claim just melted my heart.