Merry Christmas

We got to be at my mom and dad's this Christmas. It took some doing, but we finally made it. Our trip began on Saturday, December 20th when we received a phone call from United telling us our original flight had been canceled due to weather. Go figure! It's December in the
Midwest...we've come to expect such things. Which is why we packed carry-on only! It's amazing the things you can do without when it becomes necessity. After several attempts by phone to get on a new flight, we decided the best option was to head to the airport as quickly as possible. You see, we weren't just worried about Chicago. Portland was in the middle of an "Arctic Blast" that was threatening to close the airport, we needed to get out of here! I loved listening in as C gave the phone operator several options of where to fly us..."How about Sacramento? My mom lives there, we could stay with her.....no? Okay, let's try San Francisco! We love that airport....no....hmmm....LA? That would be perfect! My dad is there, he'd love it!" I can only imagine what she must have been thinking!! Racing to the airport was really out of the question we soon realized as we ventured out onto to the icy roads. We couldn't go much above 35mph, not because of traffic, but because of the Slip-n-Slid our car was on. Ahead of us a huge Ford truck was simply attempting to change lanes and his tail end slid out from under him which made him slide sideways down the freeway a short distance. We soon noticed cars stopping alongside the freeway and drivers getting out to chain up. We had chains, but no time to chain up! It took us much longer than anticipated to arrive at the airport, but we finally did. The plane we were hoping to catch had already left but we were able to get on standby for the next flight out. Our original flight had us leaving Portland traveling to Chicago then arriving at Springfield where my brother, Kurt, would pick us up. Our new flight schedule had us going from Portland to LAX, spending the night in LA, leaving LA on Sunday morning and flying to Denver then finally to St. Louis where my brother, Bret, would be picking us up! My brothers are the greatest!! The only caveat was actually getting out of Portland, as by now they had canceled all flights leaving after 6 p.m. and were continuing to cancel more. We were sitting in the terminal waiting to see if we would be flying standby to LAX on the 1:30p.m. flight when we got the call that all other flights from Portland had been canceled. This was our only chance...and two minutes later they called our names for standby! We made it!! A blessing in disguise as it gave us the opportunity to spend the afternoon and night with Roland and Daniel, which we hadn't anticipated. The following morning, after a scrumptious pancake breakfast, we headed to LAX to continue on our journey. The rest of the trip to IL was uneventful. We made it to Denver and then on to St. Louis where Bret and Jessica were waiting with -4 degree weather. C looked at me and said, "I don't think I brought enough warm clothes!" Hard to fit all that in a carry-on! It was wonderful to be home and see my family. It's always too long between visits. Dad had worked hard to clear the attic so us "kids" could go up and play our choice of pool, foos ball, or air hockey. Mom made delicious dinners and decorated the house so beautifully. Bret and Kurt rocked on World Tour and even shared the limelight with C and me (C on guitar, me on drums!). Dad even got into it! What a fun week! All too soon it was time for our trek home. The weather in Portland had settled down, but weather in the Midwest is always unpredictable. There was a ton of rain, wind, thunder and
lightning none of which is a good thing when you're flying out of a tiny airport. We decided to leave early to Springfield and again try standby. We just had a feeling our flights would be canceled. Kurt drove us there, since that's where he calls home. We had a short visit to his apartment before heading on. Once we got there we found that all flights had been delayed. To make a long story short, we got on a standby flight that was supposed to leave at 2:30p.m. but didn't actually leave until 6:30 p.m. Our original flight was canceled, so we got lucky to get on the standby. We made it to Chicago in time to catch another standby that had been delayed and we made it to Portland around 11:30p.m. C's brother and his wife were at the airport to pick us up. Home again, home again....jiggity jig! Merry Christmas!