Monday

Well, my guys got home safely on Friday- good to have them in the house again- together- for one night anyway. We drove son #1 to the airport early Sat. morning so he could catch a plane to AZ. to visit oldest sister. I spent Sat. in a bit of a tizzy- I painted which was nice, but I kept watching the clock. I kept track of the hours that He was taking off and flying, and doing the same for the daughter who by Sat. morning was in Managua, Nicaragua to catch a plane home. I am sure you are all tired of hearing about my fears. Sorry. But let me continue. Late in the afternoon, I heard from the AZ. crew that things went well there, and those two siblings were together again. So then I called Continental airlines to find out how Daughter #2's plane was doing, around the time they were supposed to land in Houston, only to find that it was delayed by 3 hours and 50 minutes, due to maintenance problems, which meant that they hadn't even left Managua yet! I waited another 40 minutes or so, called back to find that the flight had been cancelled. A week ago, when they left for their trip, the travelers had been forewarned that there were to be demonstrations at the US embassy, and roads were to be closed off when they got there, so now I was concerned that something major was going on, and I could feel my head start to pound, and my heart rate speed up. On the outside I was calm, but I was going into my "surreal" mode. This has happened to my twice before. The first was when the doctor told me I was expecting twins (he didn't know this, but his conversation with me was actually going on with someone else behind a curtain!) And the second time this happened to me, was on 9/11, while I waited to hear whether my husband had made it out of the first tower ok.
So here I was- experiencing this again. To make a longer story than I had intended into a slightly shorter one, they were sent to a hotel for the night, and were on a flight to Houston on Sunday morning by 9 a.m.
Now in Houston, at 12? or 1? in the afternoon, the time change has me confused- as does the difference between EST, and Central time- the airline had 25 or so people to deal with. With much confusion over splitting up a "group" and talk about being there until Tuesday (these are people who lived in a hut of some kind for a week with limited water resources, and clothes that were literally dirt covered in their suitcases according to my daughter) they were finally sent to Newark airport in NJ, on three different planes- the first group arriving at about 9 p.m., and the last at 1:15 a.m. this morning (my daughter.) The first arrivals at Newark had to wait for the last arrivals because a bus was meeting them at 1 to take them back to their school in Phili., where they would then get into cars that had been parked in the parking lot of school, and each would then go to their respective homes. I am guessing that she arrived at her apt. at about 4 this morning. She said she would call me when she wakes up. It was so wonderful to hear her voice yesterday/last night. She called as soon as both her planes touched down. But since she was one of the leaders, she was all business in Houston (a different girl than the one I know) as she worked with everyone (the advisers who were with them, and the contact person in Phili., and the airlines) to get everyone home asap. As students boarded planes and she could see things ironing out, her voice started to change and she could begin to talk about other things.
I haven't gotten much news about the actual events of the trip, but she said it was wonderful- everything she had hoped for- only a couple of people started to not feel so great towards the end of the week, but so far she was doing fine.
I suspect she is going to need to rest today. I would like to visit her. I may take a ride to see her. It depends on how a couple of other things go today, on the home front. I am just thankful that she and the others made it home safely.
Motherhood has been my most rewarding "occupation"? What word am I looking for? But it is also what has given me the most gray hair. No doubt. I keep trying to cover them- but they keep popping up. It's a wonder that I am not all white today. Oh well. They are the least of life's problems. Right? But I will point out these latest to my babycakes when I see her.