We were flying from Providence to North Carolina to see my mother and all was going according to plan. Daniel, 8, woke on his own before I had to wake him and once in Providence we caught the bus from the parking to the terminal no problem. We zipped through security and sat at our gate for a relaxing hour drinking tea, eating muffins, and reading the comics. And then the worrying began.
The man at the gate asked for volunteers to check their bags for free. I volunteered thinking I wouldn’t have to load my bag and Daniel’s bag into the overhead bins. It would be easier. Daniel was protesting. He didn’t want to do it. Daniel must have asked 10 times if our bags were going to arrive in New Bern – before, after, and during takeoff. “Yes, of course the bags will make it,” I replied knowing full well anything can happen.
Once we thought we were on our way, we proceeded to park on the runway for an hour due to heavy incoming traffic to Charlotte. Then the worrying began. We could easily miss our connection in Charlotte to New Bern and we would have NO bags. I wasn’t feeling hopeful about a later flight to New Bern as it is a very small airport and one flight a day was probably it.
“Are we going to make our connection?” Daniel asked over and over. “I don’t know. I don’t know.” Well into the flight, the captain came on and explained that connections to New Bern were doubtful. Now Daniel was very worried. He decided to pray. “Dear God, I pray we make our flight to New Bern and Meemaw’s today. Amen.”
I am not kidding, shortly thereafter the captain came on the intercom and said the New Bern flight had been delayed and we might just make our connection after all. We high fived each other from our adjoining seats.
Still, we were still quite late and we had no idea how long the delay was. So once in Charlotte, we sprinted the mile from A terminal to E terminal (a good mile) and were surprised when we arrived at our gate. They were not even boarding yet. A nearby passenger couldn’t help but notice our huffing and puffing and asked what our name was. When I told her “McGovern” she said “I think the attendant is looking for you.”
Turns out her seat and our seats 4 A, B were broken and that was the reason for the delay. We needed new seat assignments. Well, Daniel was convinced that prayer works and later that weekend he said he would pray for the Patriots to win their game. I said, “I don’t think God cares about a football game.” His reply: “I'm gonna try it.” Because you never know, you never know.
Unrelated thoughts
-It's time for new glasses when you think the dog has snow on his back and he is simply wet and what you are seeing is his white skin.
-It's time for new glasses when an OLD man in the graveyard is walking a dog you know. The next day you see the same dog with it's regular owner. "I saw your father walking your dog yesterday," I said by way of greeting. The woman said, "Oh that was my husband, he's a little gray." I still think he looked at least 70 while she could be in her 30s.
-When my boss, 80, told me an elderly man came up to him - I asked "What's elderly." He explained that he was all stooped over.
-I found an escaped darkling beetle in the hallway. This is Daniel's pet beetle.
-When the piano teacher calls he always says, "This is Dennis, the piano teacher."
-What do allergies, autism and hyperactivity have in common? They were not nearly as prevalent 30 years ago.
-Kids are so tuned into allergies these days that when Michael had friends over for breakfast Daniel said, "You should ask them if they have allergies." I told him I would just sprinkle peanuts in their pancakes." NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
