'..check, check...123. Is this on?'
Hello blog. It's me, your deserter...uh, I meant writer!
I haven't been around much. To say the past year has been 'rough' is a vast understatement. It's been hell. I've tried to come back a few times to say hello and explain it all, but every time I tried, the words just didn't come. It hurt too much to relive it. But it's a new year, and it's time to talk. Here goes nothing.
Have you ever planned for a really big, fun vacation? You got the tickets booked and your calendar is marked. Your husband cleared his work for 12 days for a great family vacation to Hawaii! [cue ukulele music now] You get your bags all packed, ready by the door. You load up the car with your
overflowing bags full of stuff you wont need, so you should've just packed a bathing suit kind of luggage. You load up the kids with their binkies, blankets, suckers and everything else imaginable that could entertainment a 4 month old and a 2 1/2 year old for a 17 hour journey to the islands. You feel invincible. You head to the airport and your excitement matches your sons thrill of seeing "airpwanes!" You are giddy, elated and so ready for vacation. You've been ready for a long time, especially after the new baby arrived. Your first small plane from little city to big connection city goes without a hitch. 'We are doing it! We are going! We are on our way!!!' You get to Newark. You find your gate, load plane number 2. You look at your husband with a twinkle in your eye. Dreaming, soon, we'll be on the beach. You give him that look that parents give each other when then can't believe how well their children are behaving. You give each other high fives. You say 'look at us! We are pros! We are on our way.' Just then the stewardess says there will be a delay, a mechanical delay. One hour wait. No problem, we got this. After an hour, they let you off the plane [side note : stroller is now in the belly of the plane.] No problem, we will just wait some more. We STILL got this, and we are STILL going to Hawaii. An hour turns into two. Two turns into three. Three turns into meltdown city thanks to no nap. Four turns into toddler running around and screaming like a banshee [it's that crazy thing that happens when they don't nap; they get
more energy. It's a phenomenon from the devil himself] Five turns into mommy sobbing because both kids are out of diapers [remember, mommy only brought 4 diapers for each kids, planning that we would already be in our connection city of San Fran by now] So mommy storms over to customer service to ask/plead/beg for diapers. With tears in her eyes and a baby strapped to her chest, she talks to the ladies at the counter. Not only were they were no help but they were extremely rude. No surprise there, the Newark Airport staff all need joy enemas. As she was still at the counter pleading for help, daddy brings over the screaming toddler and says 'You gotta take him, I'm really sick. I need to go to the bathroom'. Mommy looks at daddy not with a twinkle any longer but with dagger eyes. ARE YOU FREAKING KIDDING ME.
A few minutes later daddy emerges from the bathroom pale as a ghost. Shaking. Throwing up into the nearby trash cans. Then he lays down on the ground. The plane that has been delayed for 7 hours suddenly begins to board. That's when the the stewardess comes over and says "Ma'am, CALM. DOWN. The paramedics are on their way. You and your husband are NOT getting on the flight." Calm down? CALM DOWN???? WHAT IS HAPPENING?? Stunned. Is this really happening!? Husband is shaking, convulsing, his face and arms are numb, rigid and have spasms. He can't form words. Wife is beside herself with confusion and fear. A few people have gathered around and offered to help hold the toddler and watch carry on bags while wife runs to get medicine. After 10 minutes of solid running [with a baby in a sling] she finds an open store, gets some nausea and diarrhea medicine and returns to husband. Stranger hands over the kid and the bags, and boards the plane. Suddenly, wife is completely alone. In an empty terminal. A strangely
deserted wasteland of a terminal at only 9:30 pm. She could practically see tumble weeds rolling by. Crying, with two crying children, and a very very strangely sick husband. She saw one lone man walking by and he actually looked at her with compassion and asked if she was ok. She replied 'worst *expletive* day of my life.' He said 'yeah, those days always happen in the airport. I'm sorry.'
I wish I could say this was a bad dream, or a movie. But sadly, THIS IS A TRUE STORY AND IT HAPPENED TO ME.
So you get it. IT WAS BAD. [switching to first person now]
About 15
eternity minutes later the paramedics arrive. I'm still trying to constrain a
spawn of satan toddler and a baby. I ask the stewardess if I could get my stroller back before the plane departs. She snarkily replied 'Well if you had asked me 10 minutes ago, I might have been able to help you but it's too late now.' I shot her some dagger eyes, and 'oh, you mean while my husband was on the ground convulsing or when I was sprinting through the airport in gladiator sandals with a baby on chest?' She must have've been part human deep down inside, because a few minutes later she located and gave me my stroller. When she looked at me like she was doing me a huge favor and deserved a tip, I didn't even thank her. I was infuriated. Meanwhile the paramedics are checking his levels, and they said his blood pressure was better than theirs {and they laughed} and told us he probably got a stomach bug and go rest if off. Fly in the morning, they said. Hmm, I've never heard a stomach bug that causes convulsions and spasms, but ok-ay. Thanks to the nice officer who came by to fill out a report, he got the stewardess to give us a hotel voucher. We called for a wheelchair and a guy came by but he said, oh, I'll be back in 20 minutes. Um, no thanks. So we start walking. I am carrying the baby, pushing a toddler and all our bags hanging on the stroller, and trying to support a shaky weak man. He wasn't happy that we didn't wait for him, because he began pushing him so fast that I was left alone in the dust, pushing uphill, with 40+ lbs of stuff to carry. I see Chris in the distance flailing his arms. Eventually they slow down and I catch up to them and because of the momentum I'm pushing I pass them up. I said to the guy over my shoulder ok, come on lets go. And the guy rudely says 'WELL I'M JUST DOING WHAT I WAS TOLD. YOUR HUSBAND TOLD ME TO SLOW DOWN. I said 'SIR. You have no idea what we have been through just now. Please have some compassion.' Yet another airport employee who was a total-a-hole to a beaten down family. Eventually we make it to the hotel van pick up and I reluctantly hand over a tip to the wheelchair guy. We then waited and HOUR for our shuttle.
So let me recap. No food. No water. No energy. No luggage. No diapers. Exhausted kids. Exhausted me. Sick husband. And a dingy airport hotel waiting for us. Thanks to a stranger [friend of my parents] from the city, a lovely girl named Aaron drive in from New York to our hotel and brought me diapers, food, water, hugs, a listening ear, and prayer. I got everyone settled into bed, and I showered. Never been so thankful for a shower and a bed in all my life.
~TO BE CONTINUED~
