And So On

My doctor's visit today resulted in a new medication, the one they advertise on TV with people made out of plumbing pipes. We'll see how that goes. I also got my bedroom straightened up and clothes put away, and my desk all tidy and even dusted, for heaven's sake.

But I know what you want to hear.

It was the oddest hurricane ever. For one, it struck on a summer afternoon with no warning. (I'm thinking now it was July, so it wasn't actually a hurricane, since they come later in the year. It was some kind of hellacious storm.) There were gale force winds and a whole lot of rain, but it never got dark like a hurricane does. Locally, we were still out driving around in it. Late afternoon, I brought older cousin and my two kids back to my house. Come dinnertime, we were going to IHOP. The phone rang.

It was crazy cousin, calling her sister to ask, essentially "WHAT DO I DO NOW?"

The four of us were in my family room, I recall, as the rain poured outside under a brightening sky. My girls and I heard only one side of the conversation, of course, which went like this:

"You need to go to Traveler's Aid."

"It's a desk. There's a sign above it that says 'Traveler's Aid'."

"Get a luggage cart."

"Okay, okay. Get a Skycap."

"A man with a luggage cart."

"It says "Skycap" on his hat."

"Which terminal are you in?"

"Okay. Turn left."

"About a hundred feet."

And so on. By this time, we were certain that 8 year old R could have figured this all out of her own; at least she would have read signs and figured out where the ladies room was. K could have done it at that point. But older cousin had to guide her sister through every step of the way. Finally, she was in the right place, and we went out to eat.

She called again as soon as we got back. The airlines had settled all the people from the canceled flight in an airport hotel, and re-booked them for the next day. She had had a choice of a morning flight and a late afternoon, and knowing how little she liked getting up and getting ready in a hurry, she picked the afternoon. In the meantime, she had the absolute time of her life. She hung out with the other passengers, she had a nice room, she got room service. She was in heaven, and assured us that no, we didn't have to pick her up in the morning and then bring her back in the afternoon, she'd enjoy the hotel and take the shuttle back.

You know what happened, right? Or not.

The storm blew back in the next afternoon, and her flight was canceled. Again. She went happily back to the hotel. My father was having an apoplexy. The rest of us could not stop laughing.

On the third day, she flew home to L.A. and her concerned parents. All was well, until a couple of months later, when she proclaimed that the incident at the airport had changed her life, and now she knew she could handle independence, so she was truly going to strike out on her own. She had a friend who lived in, of all places, Oregon, and she was moving there.

Uh ... yeah, right.

But she did. I guess she lived in an apartment at first, and worked to her level of what she could work.

Did she grow up? Did she find true love? Tune in tomorrow.



waiting for WIFE SWAP :: ENTRY #2027
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