Long Trip Home

I went to sleep the last night in Maryland knowing the governor of Alabama had declared a state of emergency for the next day because there was going to be so much snow and ice in Alabama.  The day we are traveling.  And the anxiety began.

So, we got up the next morning and tried to figure out how the trip home was going to go.  If I was going to be stranded somewhere, I'd like to be stranded in Maryland where we have a place to stay and where we keep all our toiletries (because we visit so often).  The flights all looked normal so far, so we just kept going through the day as planned.  Atlanta was going to be like 40 degrees, so Atlanta was good to go.

This is me faking it in BWI.  I was so sick with anxiety and
I spilled my whole large soda on the carpet right after this.
This day is not fun already.

Then I saw this.

The ONE flight canceled is the
one we were supposed to be on.

We would now be on the 10:30 flight.

First I was sick at Stephanie's house before we left.  Then I was sick in BWI.  Then I was sick on the plane.  So, stuck in the Atlanta airport for 5 and a half hours, I went for a nice, long, slow walk with Kara.  I did a lot of deep breathing.  I was feeling a little better.  I took even more anxiety medicine and bought dinner.

We found this kiosk that sold delicious sandwiches.

Kara LOVED them!  Turkey and cheese on an herbed
focaccia bread.  It took a long time for me to feel well
enough to eat it, but hey, TIME was something we had
plenty of!

We hung out at our gate and I checked my phone every 2 minutes for 5 hours to see if the 10:30 flight would be canceled too.  Meanwhile, the snow was on it's way to Atlanta.  I could feel it creeping toward us like the boogie man in the dark.  I didn't know if we'd be stranded in Atlanta, stranded at the Huntsville hotel, or what.  But because of the weather, all hotels were filling up.  So, getting a shuttle or taxi to a hotel that could have any possible vacancies was narrowing smaller and smaller.  I felt like I was choking like the air was leaving the room.  The 7:00 flight was canceled like 5 hours early, so I was just waiting for the 10:30 flight to be canceled too.  So we just kept moving gates as they kept changing gates.  We moved about 5 times as they kept changing which gate our flight would be leaving from.

We opened Netflix and shared headphones watching the same thing.  Here I am faking it for Kara.  I let a little fear/anxiety slip earlier, and she was freaked.  So I was strong for her.  And she was being strong for me.  We were both SO TIRED from waking up so early every day on our vacation and from extroverting every day and from being away from home and from stressing all day.  All that tired made us a little more on edge, but we were being strong for each other.

As 10:30 got closer, my heart started pounding.  The snow was here in Atlanta and it had been snowing for a few hours now.  I just knew it was not safe to leave.  But I wanted to anyway.  So, we all loaded on the plane.  We sat for 20-30 minutes until we finally backed up.  But it was snowy and icy, so we needed to get in line to get the plane de-iced.

We were 10th in line and it took a long stay-in-your-seat-not-allowed-to-go-to-the-bathroom-not-served-drinks-or-snacks hour and a half.  Each time we moved up in line, we skidded horribly to a stop in the ice and snow.  It was terrifying.  We were going to leave in this weather to go to Huntsville?  All the weather reports I saw there said "roads are so bad they are impassible.  Do not drive on the roads unless it is an extreme emergency."  2 hours on the plane, and still sitting at the Atlanta airport, I just knew they were still going to cancel the flight.  Nope, we took off.  The flight is so short that we are ascending until we descend.  Not allowed to go to the bathroom, not served drinks, stay seated.  My mouth was SO DRY by now!

As we descended into Huntsville, I was shaking.  I just knew we were going to die.  I knew it.  The roads are impassible.  We skidded to a stop when we were moving forward at 5 mph in line.  I knew we were going to die.  Or try to land 3 different times, but have to take back off because we were sliding everywhere.  I prayed and prayed and prayed.  God, Kara and I are both saved.  I trust you.  I trust you.  It's okay that we are dying today.  I trust you.  I accept your will.

And then we landed.....

ON DRY GROUND.

This doesn't feel like a state of emergency to me.  Or like our 7:00 flight needed to be canceled.  Especially since flights landed all day at Huntsville, including at 7:00 when we were supposed to land.

I'm so relieved, but I am still stressing about the roads.  Should we get a hotel?  Or not.  Or should we?  Or not.  Or should we?  Or not.  This was my voice in my head non stop for 12 hours straight.  I was so tired and so sick of that voice.  Shut up.  That voice gave me an all day headache.

I prayed and said, God, if you want me to stay at the hotel in the airport because roads are bad, please have a room available.  If not, we will drive as far as we can until we have to turn around and find a different hotel.  The hotel was full, which Kara was relieved to hear!  She hated not having a concrete plan and she was dying to go home.  But she is kind and obedient and never complained once.

The parking lot was icy and snowy and bad.  Driving to exit the lot I was slipping everywhere on black ice, but I know what to do having learned to drive in Maryland.

We exited the airport lot to find the roads completely dry.  The further we got from Huntsville and toward the country, the smaller the roads get.  I saw reports that Union Grove (which is how we go home) had "deteriorating" roads.  I just knew these would be the impassible ones.  NOPE.  Dry.  As a bone.  So, we kept driving.  I just knew climbing Georgia Mountain road to get up the mountain to our house was going to be a slippery, dangerous mess.  This would be the impassible road.  NOPE.  Dry.  As a bone.

We made it home at 2am.  Kara and I were both practically in tears from the horrible day and the relief that we could be in our own beds that night.  Kara had to jump into mom mode and take care of the cats right away since it was EIGHT degrees outside.  I unpacked the car quietly so Michael could stay asleep - he had to work the next day.  So, I took a shower and was asleep by 2:30.  We slept 8 hours straight without moving once in our sleep.  We were totally useless the next day, so I just worked on cleaning and cooking and 4 loads of laundry and bills.  Do moms ever really have a true day of rest?

After all that yuck, I'll leave you with my favorite thing from the day:  this post I saw on facebook.