“All my bags are packed, I’m ready to go. I’m standing here outside your door.”
John Denver
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Some people love to travel. I don’t like to travel, especially the preparation part of travel. Once I get there, I’m fine. I was looking forward to my trip to Chicago to see my granddaughters, and visit with friends and family.
Here’s how I prepare. I send out annoying emails to friends a week ahead of time to see who is able to take me to and from the airport. I have great friends, so I always get volunteers, but I know it’s a pain in the butt. Then, I spend endless hours, spinning my wheels cleaning the house before I leave. You never know! If something happens to me, I’d be embarrassed if someone went into my dirty house.
Last night, I decided I wanted to spot clean a small area of my carpet in the family room because it is so darn dirty from foot traffic. Mostly my dirty foot. So, at 11 pm, I’m trying to read complicated directions on the handheld carpet cleaner while laundry is spinning in the dryer. I spilled water all over myself. I was leaving this the morning, so of course I hadn’t packed, and there I am spot cleaning and doing laundry at midnight.🤦♀️
I finally went to sleep a little after 2am, my unpacked suitcase sitting on the far end of the bed. My dear friend and designated airport driver, Karen, was picking me up around 10:30 this morning. Plenty of time to pack. Right?
Instead of packing this morning, I was wiping down kitchen counters, putting away dishes, wiping the stove and fridge, oh my, spots on the handles and side of the fridge door. Better open it up and clean. Look at those sticky shelves, better give them a wipe too. Oops, I should water that new crepe myrtle tree in the back yard. I get crazy. Does anyone else do that?
10 o’clock, I should probably pack my suitcase. I pack light. Fifteen minutes, done! I walked around the house, looked to see that everything was tidy, then sat in the piano room by the front window. I tinkered at the piano while I waited with a poor prehistoric version of, “As Time Goes By.” Karen was right on time and off we went.
Traffic was smooth, so we got to the airport in less than an hour. I walked in, went to the kiosk and printed out a boarding pass. Granted, I had a scanner boarding pass on my phone, did a back-up screen shot, printed it out, but still needed to print an official pass. You can never be too prepared. As I proceeded to Gate C33, I noticed a sign that said Chapel. Hmm? Maybe I should stop in and say a few prayers, just for extra back up.
Well, the Chapel was WAY down on the other end of the terminal, but I had over an hour to spare. About a Mike later, I finally arrived, plopped my bags down and closed my eyes. The empty and quiet Chapel was what I needed to sooth my restless spirit. Ah, yes.
The flight started boarding on time, but I was in section 9, the last to board. That’s OK, I got a cheap flight and didn’t have a lot to carry. The flight was packed, and I had a middle seat between two young 20 something people. They were quiet and both strangers slept almost the entire way there, I tried to doze, but my head kept bobbing and my mouth kept dropping open. Most embarrassing. I probably made strange noises too.
When we landed, the pilot came on the PA to request we all remain in our seat until the paramedics arrive to take care of our medical emergency, Woa! What emergency? I guess someone behind us got very sick and they had to check it out. I think the lady was OK. We all deplaned without incident.
See, if that was me being sick and having an emergency, I’d say to myself. “Aren’t you glad you cleaned the house before you left?”
My sister Jo picked me up at O’Hare 3D, and traffic wasn’t to bad, so we went out to dinner on the way home. I’ll see the grand-daughters in a couple of days. So, all is well with the world.
But, I really would like it much better if I didn’t have to go to the airport and just be teleported or beamed up to my destination. Let’s work on that, Scotty.
Toni Andrukaitis 
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