I am constantly amazed at how rapidly life changes around here. It isn't necessarily that life at my house advances any faster than it does elsewhere, it is just that I pay closer attention to it now, perhaps because I hear the Mom Clock steadily ticking away the precious time I have left to parent my "little girls" before they rush off, headfirst, into the tempestuous world. I can only hope that I have helped them gain the knowledge, skills and self assurance they will need to be successful adults.
This week was a blur of activity. That in and of itself is nothing new, but along with the usual kid activities such as Emily's Pops Concert, Carley's Key Club Social, Driving the kids to the moon and back for various
Really Important Reasons, and all of my own errands, we were busy preparing the girls for their first ever flight without an accompanying parent. Yes, Bill and I were nervous. Yes, the flights were getting more crowded by the day. And yes, the girls were bouncing off the walls with excitement over their sister's impending High School Graduation ceremony in Ohio. It was a stressful week to say the least, and I haven't even mentioned the stress of the school year coming to a close, which brings mountains of scary State Reports that I have to complete with a "Yes Sir" and a forced smile. Whew!
As I obsessively checked the Friday evening flight, I knew by Thursday that we had a potential problem brewing. We absolutely love our flight benefits, but we also know better than to try getting on a flight over a holiday. Since the graduation was not an occasion to be missed, you better believe I was willing to put myself through the torture of long lines, cranky agents, and 5 girls that suddenly turn into living bumper cars when we are out in busy public places, but I also knew that working a half day on Friday was no longer an option so I took the day off in order to devote all my time to shipping my girls off to Ohio. Now all we had to do was cross our fingers that there would be enough seats left for them all to make the flight!
Friday morning was a busy one as the girls stuffed belongings into suitcases that were never meant to hold so much (I made Emily leave her beloved stuffed dog home because there simply was not enough room!), then we dashed off to get them the last minute outfits and shoes they needed, and all the while they were working so hard on a surprise gift for their Dad's 40th birthday that happens to be in the same month as Father's Day. Perfect! Well, it would have been perfect if the girls weren't born with the same procrastination gene that their mom has... and if the printer hadn't chosen that morning to start printing all color pictures in various shades of purple. No problem! It was only 11:00, their flight was at 4:50, so I went back to the store to get the ink (and the adorable watermelon colored shirt that Abby oh-so-loved!) so they could finish their gift. After handing off the ink to the girls, I decided I had better check the flight again....and that's where things got interesting. Suddenly, there were no more seats available on any of the remaining flights to Cincinnati and the girls were booked on the last flight of the day. I knew that we had one chance to get them to Ohio and it meant dropping everything, right that second, and heading to the airport in hopes of getting on a flight that was scheduled to leave in 2 hours. Apparently I love chaos!
After the mad rush to get to the airport, get through the ticket counter lines, funnel everyone through security (5 kids, 2 laptops and multiple carry on bags= not fun!) and get to the right gate, only THEN did we discover that the flight we were racing to catch was delayed an hour. One thing that drives me crazy is the "hurry up and wait" syndrome. So we staked out a group of chairs, and as the girls settled in, I went to stand in the long line of angry, soon to be marooned passengers who were going to miss their connecting flights due to the delay. I was standing in line so that I could inform the gate agents about Emily's peanut allergy (always a fun conversation when the favorite airline snack seems to be peanuts) but the people in front of me seemed to be in line so that they could take turns verbally abusing the gate agents. I truly felt bad for the harsh way those agents were treated, but as I stood there observing the hostile passengers, I noticed that those angry people were doing us a favor...they were canceling or rerouting their flights and miracle of miracles... the flight suddenly had enough seats for all the girls to fly to Cincinnati! There was no longer a question of which girls would get to go if there were only 1 or 2 seats available and I was relieved that all of our "what if" conversations would not be necessary after all.
An hour after our arrival at the airport, I hugged each of the girls as they left to board the plane. Each of them had to listen to my standard warning of "Be good and behave!" but they also heard that I loved them and would miss them very much. What they didn't see was the tears that flowed freely once they were all on board. It is very unnatural to me to put my kids on a plane and not be there with them. I told Bill that it felt like I had been kicked in the chest by a horse.. I could not breathe and was struggling to avoid making a scene with my sniffling and sobbing. Bill has to endure airport goodbyes all the time when Ashley comes to visit, and I honestly don't know how he isn't more of a wreck.. it sucks to watch your kids walk down that Jetway.
The good news is that the girls have been checking in regularly and they are having a great time. I am grateful to Wendy for inviting them and to their dad for flying out there to supervise and chauffeur. I am sure they are making memories that will last a lifetime! Congratulations Wendy on your High School Graduation!
