See Diva Run

Any story can have a happy ending if you stop telling it while things are still good. The happy ending for this tale occurred in the middle, when our daughter Cassi and grandsons Kane and Dominic were reunited with our son-in-law Nate.

Nate is a Sea-Bee, and he is back in Mississippi after a year in Iraq. He got back late last year, and was able to take a 2 week leave to visit Cassi & the boys in Anchorage for Christmas. He also got a 2 week leave in July. His timing was excellent, and he was there for Dominic’s birth. But 4 weeks out of 15 months puts a strain on any family. Our goal has been to get them back together as quickly as possible. When Cassi asked if we could do it in early February, I started planning. Our first hurdle was that the person I spoke with at the airline told me that she could not fly alone with 2 children under the age of 2. I searched the FAA rules and found nothing to indicate this, so I called the airline back and was assured that it would be no problem if they were both ticketed. The next problem was getting to Mississippi. We got around this by flying to Dallas and driving to Meridian. Three one-way fares from Anchorage to Dallas using miles was a good deal. Our round trip fares from Seattle were also reasonable.

In order to be on the 7:00 flight, Cassi & the boys were up at 4:00 Anchorage time. How she got all of that luggage and two little boys through the airport is beyond my comprehension. It took more than 10 minutes to get the boys and the carry on off the jet. With 3 adults, it wasn’t much faster! She cleverly attached Kane’s car seat to a luggage cart, and was able to tow him around while carrying Dominic in his car seat. But there were still 3 carry on bags, and it all had to go through security. We met her at her arrival gate and helped her to the north satellite. Our flight was boarding when we got there, and since she really needed that extra time, there wasn’t even a chance for her to use the restroom.

The boys were surprisingly well behaved on the flight. Kane is a pretty high energy kid, but he sat in his car seat for the second long flight of the day without complaint. Dominic is a very happy little guy. He giggled for most of the flight. It was nearly 6pm in Dallas when we arrived. We picked up our luggage and rode a shuttle bus to the rental car facility. She had checked 6 very large bags in addition to the car seats and carry on. It takes a lot of luggage to relocate a family! It took every inch of cargo space in our Toyota Highlander, but Mr Diva is a genius when it comes to packing. We headed for our hotel for dinner and a little rest before the next leg of the journey.

The boys were still on Alaska time, which was 3 hours later than Dallas time. This meant a late night followed by a late morning. It was 10 before we got out of the room. Poor Nate was calling every couple of hours to find out where we were. The waiting really is the hardest part! The boys were just as good for the 10 hour drive as they had been for the day of flying. The meltdowns were few, and mostly late at night. It was nearly 10pm when we arrived at their home in Meridian. We stayed for a few minutes, then headed for our hotel so they could have some time alone.

We met for an early lunch on Saturday at a new sushi place. It was very good. We spent the rest of the day shopping for things to help them get settled in. We spent the evening playing with the boys, eating pizza and watching movies, and then it was time to leave again. Leaving the boys is incredibly difficult. They are so young, they don’t always remember us between visits, so each time we see them, we have to rebuild the bond.

We woke up Sunday morning and started the long drive back to Dallas, happy in the knowledge that they were a family again. If there is one thing I’ve learned from aging, it is the importance of family. Our trip across Mississippi and Louisiana was largely uneventful. We stopped in Kilgore, TX for dinner at Bodacious Barbecue. We stopped there on our last Meridian-Dallas commute and really enjoyed it. They had built a new facility since our last visit, but the food was still good. It took close to two hours to get from Kilgore to our hotel in Dallas. As we were getting close, I noticed that Mr D’s breathing was a bit labored. He looked pale. When I asked if he was OK, he said he needed to get to a bathroom. As soon as he had a room key, he was rushing for the elevator.

In our 20 years together, this was only the third time he has ever thrown up, and the first time that it didn’t involve too much alcohol. Whatever was wrong, I could tell he wasn’t enjoying it. After about 2 hours in the bathroom, he crawled off to bed, where he discovered that it gets worse if you lie down. He sat there propped up on pillows, trying to relax. About that time, I started to feel funny, but not in a way that made me want to laugh. Soon I was racing for the bathroom. Let’s just say that 2 sick people who are launching pyrotechnics from both ends in one hotel room with one bathroom is not a good equation. We were still in “launch mode” when it was time to leave for the airport. We couldn’t have made it to the elevator without launching something. There was no way we were going to make it to the airport. Alaska Airlines was very understanding. They put us on a later flight for $100/each, and even gave us aisle seats at the back of the plane in case we hadn’t fully recovered by then.

Things finally settled down about 9am. At 10:00 I took a shower. By 11:00 we were walking very slowly down the hall. We stopped at Target for a bottle of Pedialite and some peppermint Lifesavers. We sipped about 4 ounces of the Pedialite before tossing it to get through security. We sucked on a Lifesaver each hour to stave off hunger pains. We slept through much of the flight, and I’m happy to report that we did not need to take advantage of our aisle seats near the lavatory. By this time we were just very, very tired. We survived the long walk through the airport, the bus ride to the parking lot and the long drive home in traffic. We made it in time to pick the dogs up before closing time. They were very happy to see us, but we just wanted to go to sleep. We are still tired today, but very happy that everyone is at home, even if that home is far away.

Lot’s of photos of grandchildren can be seen at The Kodak Gallery (No photos of pyrotechnic grandparents)

But wait, Grandma has gone high tech. You will need to tilt your head to the left in order to watch this video. I didn’t say Grandma was good at high tech!

This entry was posted on Tuesday, February 10th, 2009 at 8:15 pm and is filed under Life in General. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.