ohio? not so much

hmmmmmm. i didn't actually make it home for christmas this year. thanks to the good folks at us airways and of course mother nature. i was incensed and very upset for days last week. but now i am mellow, introspective and counting my blessings despite not making it home. i have learned that it is truly embarrassing to burst into tears in front of complete strangers. strangers carrying luggage- its bad enough they are strangers but to cry in front of someone carrying luggage just makes you feel even worse.

my flight was scheduled to leave at 9:40am on thursday on usairways from lga to cmh (check out the fancy airport codes, am i in the know or what?!). my mother and i had been conversing for the past few hours about how bad the weather was in columbus and all the snow and ice- so needless to say, i had been frequently checking the status of my flight and kpr even called cmh and they were still open. so i spent $40 on the car from my home to lga (thanks to that lovely bonus my kind bosses gave me) and set out to the airport with high hopes. this was the last point of the day in which my hopes were high. i arrived, tipped the friendly driver and pulled my heavy suitcase (with only one wheel, thanks to usairways a few years ago) up to the self service kiosk and was prepared to check myself in. imagine my dismay when the display told me my flight had been cancelled when only five minutes earlier i had checked the status and everything was good to go. why do they even bother providing the flight status service if the information is wrong? the not-so-friendly-usairways employee told me i had to "go wait in that line" to make new arrangements. she pointed to the trembling mass of enraged people that was pretty much filling the entirety of the ticketing terminal. fabulous. a nicer usairways employee told me to call the 800 # while i was in line and make my new arrangments over the phone and then when it was my turn, they could just print my new boarding pass and it would be that easy. it is never that easy. i couldn't get through on the phone, it kept on disconnecting me. i got us to the counter and the woman was like- "oh its no good there, can you take a train or something?" hmmmmmmmm. i think not you freaking freak!

you know what? as i type this, i am losing that sense of mellow and counting my blessings and i'm getting mad again- so let me just summarize:

standby flight- full
mean, horrible, uncaring, uninformed usairways employees
next day drive to philadelphia to catch a direct flight-
cancelled
crying on phone to everyone i know and in front of people carrying baggage
mean, horrible, uncaring, uninformed and organized sick-out usairways employees
mom upset
great aunt passes away, mom terribly upset

spent christmas with kpr and champ and kpr's family-
nice surprise
had a mystery gift from santa to open on christmas morning
spent christmas day watching first season of sopranos
we're now hooked
didn't spend christmas in miserable airport crying in front of people who lost said luggage
had power (not everyone in oh did)
had lobster tail for christmas dinner
am now home safe and sound and not in miserable airport crying in front of people with lost luggage
not quite sure where my luggage is or if i will ever see it again or if i will ever get through on usairways customer service line- contemplating going to city desk by grand central station, but that would require showering and going out in the snow which is hard to do when my snow boots are lost in luggage.
expecting big package with all my christmas gifts from my family to arrive on wednesday- including champ's new bed!

so that's it. it wasn't the christmas i was looking forward to all year, but it was a great christmas none the less- i was able to spend it with kpr and champ and you can't beat that.

i hope everyone else had a very merry time and i'm looking forward to the new year!