Ho, ho, holy christmas people! This was, for lack of a better description, a challenging Christmas. And that’s meant in a good way.
It started by missing the 45 minute mark to check Devin’s bag in on our 6:30AM flight out of O’Hare. I was naive in thinking that O’Hare wouldn’t be *that* crazy *that* early in the morning. I will not make this mistake twice, simply because I am emotionally scarred from the eyes-turned-red anger I was feeling. A quick decision for me to continue on (I only had my new and gorgeous carry-on luggage…) and for Devin to fly standby went South when I couldn’t check in on the E-ticket kiosk. I was fuming. Thankfully, Devin had her wits and charm collected together. After waiting 15-20 minutes in the line for dysfunctional travelers, we were helped by a really nice United employee who sent us on the next flight to DC-National instead of Baltimore - clearly outside of normal proticall.
My normal vision was restored and we flew on a nearly empty Airbus 330 to DC. It was nice to not be packed in like a bunch of sardines. But we did experience some of the most intense turbulance in my riding-jet-planes career. Having just caught up on all 11 episodes of Lost, I think it was enough to make me a bit tense and to give Dev nausea.
If getting to Rockville, MD was going to be…challenging…then appropriate that Rockville, MD would be challenging as well. Dev and I still needed to wrap up Christmas shopping and we were having a difficult time locating gifts. We found out shortly after landing that Dev’s parents would be involved in the family celebrations. Aidan was sick with ear and sinus infections. Dev’s cousin was in town from New York, showing off her new baby and the baby’s father. And Dev’s other sister, Meghan was with us too.
The tension spread like a wildfire.
We spent the holidays accomidating to other people’s needs. By we, I mean Terra, Mike, Devin and myself. But in between doing that, we had a good time. We ate some serious seafood, had a lot to laugh about and exchanged some great gifts. My big gift to Devin was classes at Improv Olympic starting January 8th. The twist is that I would be taking them with her. Devin’s gift to me was an AWESOME coffee mug with an AWESOME design of photos of us and her surrounding it. Very appropriate considering I do not own a coffee mug (that I drink from - most of them are used to hold pens, pencils, etc.) and that I need one for work.
We decided to roll the dice again with the airlines and flew standby on our returning flight. Again, probably not the best decision if you’re someone who has already dealt with enough stress and unknowns - but it worked out for us very well.
I did get a bit homesick on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, which I wasn’t prepared for but should have been expected. I missed my family, watching National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation and mexican food.
But that was Christmas ‘04 in all it’s glory. I was happy that Dev was able to be with her family. I was happy that we were able to provide Terra with a bit of sanity. And I was happy that Dev and I were together - I couldn’t have been any other way.
I was just listening to Tool - Forty-Six and Two