Flight

1. I didn't sleep very well last night. I never do before a flight. I habitually check the time to make sure I am not going to sleep in, therefore making myself supremely tired and increasing my chances of actually sleeping in. It's what you might call a "vicious cycle".

2. I showed up at the airport at 6 am for my 7 am flight and was surprised to see a massive line of people snaking out the terminal doors. This is an airport that is famous for its 10 minute check in. Showing up an hour early should have left me with 50 minutes to sit and wait for boarding....instead it left me with a missed flight, several awkward moments at the ticket counter while I unsuccessfully tried to stop myself from crying, a 6 hour wait in the KC airport, a 3 1/2 hour flight to Portland, and another 2 hour flight BACK to Salt Lake City.

3. I won't deny that it was an extremely long day. But it was made better by Everly's easygoing nature. She played and practiced her walking and read books and ate skittles and generally enjoyed herself. She was actually pretty excellent company.

Also, I should take this opportunity to dispense a little parenting advice. Babies don't want toys. They want tissue packs, chapsticks, wallets with credit cards and other important documents that would devastate you if they are lost. Don't fight it. Also, they prefer ripping pages out of People magazine over reading "Brown Bear, Brown Bear".

4. I had the pleasure to meet several good hearted people that went out of their way to talk to me and extend a helping hand. But first...there was Mark. He felt so bad for me that he drove all the way back to the airport to pick me up and take me to breakfast at Cracker Barrel. He is the best friend.
*A salesman from Indiana and a Grandmother from Denver spent an hour fussing over ever land family stories.
*Wallace, the ticket agent that did everything in his power to help me....all three times I ended up in front of him having missed a flight, or needing information about an uncertain standby flight, or asking him to retrieve my luggage and get it put on a plane to Portland instead of Denver.
*A woman from Omaha telling me about her childhood and introducing her children and grandchildren that she was going on vacation with. She showed so much empathy and understanding, I felt like I had known her for years.
*A woman and her husband that plotted together to ensure that I would get off the Portland flight as quickly as possible so I could make it to my SLC connection with only minutes to spare.
*All the passengers that parted like the Red Sea to let me through...calling out to each other, "She's got a flight in 15 minutes! Let's get her out of here!" I mean....I felt like I was in a movie!
*The young pregnant mom I sat by on the last flight that said,"You can sit by me! You gotta know I'm okay with babies!" And then spent the flight tucking Ever's toes and feeding her baby grahams. She even turned Mary Poppins on her phone for her to watch....

All of these people made my long day of travel one of the days I will remember  with a smile and I will try to be that person to help make someone else's miserable day a bit more bearable. I am going to be on the lookout.

5. When I finally made it to Utah, my mom was waiting for me in the baggage claim and suddenly all was right with the world again. We grabbed the luggage and car seat, got in her car and went for a burrito at Taco Time.

A great end to an unexpected day.