If Everything Happens for a Reason, What was the Reason Behind this......

My flight was delayed in Detroit on the way home from my Godmother's funeral because of weather in Dallas where I had a connecting flight. Because of the delay when I finally did arrive in Dallas I only had 12 minutes to get to my connecting flight, I asked the stewardess if I should wait for my stroller or if I should just run to the gate. Her response informed me that my connecting flight was full, they gave away our seats to standby passengers! So there I was with my three month old baby, stranded in the Dallas airport. I was told I could get on a flight to Vegas the following morning at 9am. In the meantime I had two choices: go to a hotel at the discounted rate of $69.99 (seriously, that was discounted price!?!) or sleep on a cot by security for $10. I chose the hotel room. I also had to provide my own transportation, so I got a cab and tightly held my baby in my arms while riding on the freeway to my hotel. When I arrived at the hotel the airline sent me to, I was informed they had no rooms. I threw my arms up in the air with frustration, took a deep breathe, then calmly said to the "boy" behind the counter that I knew it wasn't his fault, but I was extremely frusturated. He quickly got on the phone, called his sister hotel, found out they had a room, then got another "kid" to drive me to that hotel. I got the last room. Once back in my room I looked at my new boarding pass and discovered that my flight the next morning wasn't to Las Vegas it was to LA. I tried calling the airline, but it was a 27 minute wait, so I went to sleep prepared to deal with it in the morning. As I went to sleep I was thinking about what the preacher said at my Godmother's funeral, "sleep means you will awake in a refreshed day," I went to sleep hoping that tomorrow would bring sunny skys, clearer heads, and a short trip home. However, when I awoke four short hours later, I awoke to the same thunder, lightning and rain. I took the shuttle to the airport, almost didn't make it through security because they woman the night before did not add my baby to my boarding pass, but because he was on the original one they were nice and let me through, then I asked the first "official" person I saw about my flight. She confirmed that I was not on any flight to Vegas, so I would have been stranded in yet another city. But she got me on a nonstop flight out of Dallas at 9:35. However, due to weather that was delayed and delayed and delayed some more. I was patient, though, because I was watching the weather and knew we couldn't go anywhere, but my supply of diapers was dwindling and my patience wore out once the sun came out and we still didn't get on a plane for another hour.

During this whole crazy experience I kept thinking about my converstation with my Godmother's son-in-law on my way back to the airport. We talked about how we both believed everything happens for a reason, even if we can't figure out the reason until years later. So I wondered to myself, is this happening because I am having a hard time getting over this untimely death and so the universe had to throw me something else to deal with? Is it to tell me that I really do need to buy a new belt and then I could get through security faster, since the splitting leather on my belt gets caught on the belt loops and takes me extra time to take off? Is it to prove that you should always pack an extra pair of underwear "just in case," and remember to put it in your carry-on not your checked luggage? Did it happen to tell me to pay the extra money for a nonstop flight next time? Did it happen to remind me of yet another positive for nursing my baby (if I would have been feeding him formula it would have run out hours before the plane left)?

As a result of this whole experience, I met an awesome couple from Australia, got to spend some great quality time with my three month old son, met a unigue group of people going to Vegas on vacation, (one of which I don't think will ever fly again), and have made the decision to never lay over in Texas again! Oh, and I now know the reason people have credit cards for emergencies. And I learned you can pay for a cab with a credit card.

I am hoping that the reason for this whole fiasco is that I will be able to fly home in November for free to spend some more time with my family. I will be working on that in the upcoming days...weeks...months, whatever it takes!!

Don't Feed the Animals

A couple of weeks ago, Owen decided to get out of his room after we had tucked him in for the night. He would climb over his gate (he had known how to do this for quite some time, but didn't do it after he was tucked in at night). This became a little game for him as he would sneak downstairs, run to the couch and sit there and look at the TV like this was completely normal and maybe no one would notice him. Well, one night we locked the gate at the bottom of the stairs and I told Gavin to ignore him. We continued to watch the TV show we were watching. When Gavin laughed at the TV, Owen would laugh really loud trying to get noticed. We continued to ignore him. Gavin got up, got a snack from the kitchen and sat back down in his chair. Owen reached his arm through the bannister for a cracker....I said, "I should take a picture of this and title it 'don't feed the animals!'" Unfortunately, I was busy with Max and didn't get the camera so I don't have a picture to go along with this post!!