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Camp, Nathan, delayed flights, 31 phone calls, and over 12 hours
By Jenny | July 22, 2006
Yes, that is a long title.
Let me tell you, it was a long day. And it was long, even before I knew it was going to get longer.
Nathan really liked the camp he had gone to for the last few years, and asked us if he could fly out to New Jersey to work at the camp for two weeks this summer. We agreed before we even sold the house; the camp is that good.
We got the ticket, and drove him up to the airport yesterday morning. It was a little less than an hour and a half drive, in pelting rain, semi trucks driving crazy, and six children in the car (well-behaved children, but still…a lot of people).
We checked in at the airport. I had to go back to the desk to get a pass for all of us to wait at the gate with Nathan (”Ma’am, don’t you have another adult with you, who can watch the other five children?” the ticket agent wanted to know…). We went through the gate, and then headed to the security line. All of us but Nathan had gone through, and then he set off the alarm. Not a big deal, really, as we thought it was his boots.
No, it was not the boots. It was his pocket knife he had in his pocket. Yes, the one I said to leave at home no matter what. The security guard came to me, asked for my car keys and sent Nathan back to the car to put it back. We still had an hour before the flight, so I was not entirely concerned, but I was annoyed. By the time Nate returned, I was over it.
Nathan returned, and we waited. We heard the flight was delayed, and now my concern began to grow-there is only an hour between this flight and his connecting one in Wisconsin. His flight finally left, forty five minutes late; the airline assured me that he will get on a plane to Newark, and to not worry.
I watched the airplane take off, with my son in it. For the first time I was very sad to have him gone so far away from me; I have not had any of my children that far away from me before. I had not really thought of it as being a tremendous distance, until as we were hugging good-bye, Nathan smiled and said, “Don’t worry, Mom. I’ll only be 1,500 miles away from you.”
Boys!
We loaded back up in the car, and began eating lunch. I was driving out of the garage when we saw that some of the sandwiches in our bag were ruined, and we opted to find a McDonald’s to add just a couple of items to our lunch bag. As we were eating lunch I remembered there is a Whole Foods grocery store in town, and it is the only one around (and in Nebraska, I mean the only one!). I set out to find it, following the McDonald employee’s directions.
Turns out that she knew nothing of Whole Foods.
A quick call to the store, directions, and we are off! We arrived, parked, and went in. I enjoyed shopping, and actually passed up the handmade chocolates bar. I do not mean “a” chocolate bar, but as in “the” chocolate bar-a whole variety of hand dipped chocolates to buy. I did not even know that Whole Foods had a chocolate bar, not unlike the salad bar. Good thing I wanted to get home soon.
Back in the car, I called Jode and let him know we are finally leaving town to head home. As I am on the phone, I spied a Cost Plus store-oh! One of my all time favorites that I have not seen since my California days. Ok, I still had an hour or so to spare….
An hour later, laden with only two bags (pretty good for self control again!), we hit the road. One quick trip through the Starbucks drive through, and I figured we were in the clear for the day. Nathan on his flight (his one from Wisconsin would be well under way by now), groceries, a couple of treats from Cost Plus, my Venti black iced tea, and voila! A long day in the car, but still, fun.
A little less than an hour from home my cell phone rang-it was Bill, our friend in New Jersey who was to pick up Nathan. Did I know he was still in Wisconsin?
What??
The flight was delayed due to weather. It was about 3 pm our time, and my son had been sitting in the airport for nearly three hours. Nathan had no cell phone, only a phone card. But, I thought, I had told him to call me only if his flight did not take off-why didn’t he call me? Oh, no. Surely he would have thought to call my cell phone, and not just the home phone.
No, he wouldn’t.
I found that out after I got home. No way to call him, I contacted the airline several times in the following hours. I kept in touch with Bill, the airline, and Nathan did finally call me at home and I was here. If you can believe it, it was not until thirty-one phone calls, and twelve hours later that I knew my son was in New Jersey at the home where he was staying last night. And, I am not kidding about the phone calls. I wish I was.
On the better side of things, Nathan kept his spirits up. He kept in sight that the Lord was with him, and that the Lord was teaching Nathan patience.
Of course, his mother learned a lot about it too.
Topics: Family |
July 22nd, 2006 at 10:51 am
What a great post! And what an eventful day! Why am I yelling!
Is Cost-Plus like Costco?
July 22nd, 2006 at 11:25 am
Hey, John! Hope it all went well in New Jersey.
Cost Plus (http://www.worldmarket.com/) is like an inexpensive Pier One Imports. They have more of the little stuff, and also have food items. I was thrilled to find Hoisin Sauce for my Chinese food cooking. There are lots of little toys for the children (I picked up some major cool toys for the potty training “prize box”-super, super cheap), great dishes, some furniture, a few hats, purses, etc.
The children had never seen one, and had a good time. It has more variety than Pier One, and there are Cost Plus Stores in California. I loved it!
May 29th, 2007 at 8:29 am
[...] Right now, we have three children employed. This means Nathan is going again this summer (with hopefully no repeat of last year’s incident), Cori is working at her job, and Anna got a job in town here. It is a completely new thing to us to have to plan around their jobs, and not just our jobs. Weren’t they just toddlers last summer? [...]