Did I mention I hate flying?

I'm back, but it didn't happen smoothly! I knew there was a reason that I told my parents to watch Tyler Thursday evening even though I was scheduled to fly in by 6pm. I knew. Because flights and me don't always agree.

I had a 8:40am PST flight out of San Diego to Dallas. That went smooth. There was only a 45 min layover, and it was in a different terminal, so when we landed late and had 20 mins to get there, I was worried. No, I didn't miss it. It boarded 20 minutes late. Long enough for me to run pee and grab a sandwich. We boarded, I watched my bag personally get put on the plane, and we left to go take off. BUT we came right back.

Mechanical failure.

It was 100 degrees yesterday in Dallas, Tx. And to fix the mechanical failure, the plane had to shut completely off. No air.

Pissed off people.

Finally, they made us get off the plane. I didn't know what that meant, but a doctor that I work with happened to be on the flight and was already on the phone making other flight plans. He put me with him. I asked him if our flight was cancelled, and he said yes. I asked why they hadn't announced it, and he told me that they would wait until the last moment.

Ok then.

Lucky me walked with him to the American Airlines Admiral's Club with all the other big shots and watched as he rebooked our flights and asked that our bags be taken off the plane. He actually tried for first class, but it was booked. Bummer. That would have taken my edge off! We sat down in the lobby area and I overheard on the intercom that our original flight would be reboarding at another terminal.

Pissed off Elizabeth.

I tried not to be mad. After all, he did take me under his wing. However, the flight we were now rebooked on was a 6:55 pm flight getting us at home at 10:30 pm. I could have been on a slightly delayed flight and probably been home by 9pm.

I decided it would be ok, and I would let it go. That is until as I was walking to use the bathroom, I looked on the flight status monitor and saw

Departing: Raleigh/Durham---now 8:00 pm

I kept my calm as I continued on to the bathroom. I wanted to seriously cry. That got us in at midnight. I called Josh and exploded. I texted friends. I blasted on facebook. I was so angry. I had a 7 hour layover in the hottest city in the U.S. I had been up and either in an airport or on a plane since 7am.

I'd already spent 3 hours of it on the computer doing work. We decided to go get dinner at Chili's which wasted another hour. Finally, it was time to board. Everyone was grumpy. The flight attendant announcing groups to come board was so awfully rude. The doctor I was with kept trying to test his status by boarding with the priority people, and she flat out called him out. Along with me because he made me follow him everywhere he went.

The flight was uneventful after that. I think God had quite a lot of sympathy for me at that point. I read more of my book for the 2 hour flight back home. When I got to baggage claim, I had no intentions of seeing my bag. I just figured I wouldn't. However, off to the side were mine and my doctor friend's luggage from the original noncancelled flight.

I pulled into my neighborhood at 1am. The only plus is that my body felt like it was only 10pm. I slept until 9am this morning when my frantic mother called asking if I got home. All I wanted to do was jump in the shower and go to bed. Josh gave up waiting for me and crashed earlier. I hadn't showered all day. I stunk, I was tired, I was irritable, and I just wanted to be in my bed. I had a 17 hr airport day.

The only thing interesting I can say about yesterday is that I will always remember where I was when I learned that Michael Jackson died--In the Admiral's club. I didn't pass a single person that was not on the phone about it.

And my doctor friend sat there and diagnosed him... because he's smart like that.