Taking off for the airport yesterday was crazy! First of all, I hate packing with a passion and I always leave it off until the last minute, but sometimes with a baby, your baby needs you last minute and then what? Mad dash to the airport! I had some stuff together, but the last hour before we had to leave Lucy got very cranky and wanted to be held the whole time. My flight was at 2:50 p.m. and we were planning on leaving at 12:50 p.m. (as soon as David's class was over) so we weren't leaving any breathing room. I took the picture above at about 1:15 p.m. at our house (which tells you how late we were). I just couldn't resist a perfect photo moment even in the midst of maddness (what a dumb idea, but the picture is cute)! We left at 1:30 p.m. I forgot tons of things and hadn't eaten anything since one bowl of cereal in the morning. I grabbed our loaf of bread (that had only 2 pieces left) and we skidadled!We arrived at the airport at 2:20 p.m. David dropped me off with the luggage to be checked and went to go park and bring me Lucy. There was a line and surprisingly, I had a great attitude and talked to the Lady next to me who looked stressed, trying to cheer her up. She thought she was pushing time, but I definitely had her beat by a half hour! After checking my luggage at 2:30 p.m. Dave met me on the way to security with Lucy. Security is crazy enough with a baby in your arms, trying to fold up the stroller and put it on the conveyor belt without being rushed, but we now had about 12 minutes until departure. My gate is B-18 which is the furthest gate, of course! I jammed Lucy back in the stoller, tied my sweatshirt around my waste, wore the baby front pack without a baby, threw the diaper bag over one shoulder, grabbed my little rolly suitcase in one hand, the stroller in the other and started sprinting. Sprinting while pushing a stroller with one hand is difficult, but while your sweatshirt is hanging down your legs, it is hilarious! People saw me coming and started moving over! When I got to the gate at 2:45 p.m. I was breathing so hard, I could hardly speak, but this crazy Mom did it!
While entering the plane, I asked a flight attendant if there was any room in any of the hatches for my suitcase. He looked at me strangely and then said "what are you talking about? Oh, the overhead bins...did you just go on a cruise or something?" I responded, "No, but I do feel like I just got off the boat."
While looking for a seat I could feel the whole airplane staring at me, and thinking "are we really still boarding? You have got to be kidding me." There were only about 4 open seats, all middle seats, which looked absolutely miserable, especially considering Lucy was hungry and I would have to nurse her on the plane. I could just imagine Lucy resting her head on my neighbors elbow while I tried to hide under a blanket that Lucy was desperately trying to pull off! And then the miracle of miracles, I see an aisle seat! "Thank Heavens," I think as I walk toward it just in time to watch a lady who had only gotten up to look for her sunglasses sit back down in it! Feeling ready to cry...so grateful to be on the flight, but still feeling like life is hard, the man behind her said "Oh, would you be more comfortable in an aisle seat? I can move." Then he asked me if he could hold my daughter while I got situated. I put my things away and just started to cry because he had been so nice to me. I couldn't even tell him why I was crying. I was overcome with such joy just to be on the flight and deep gratitude to have met such a nice and helpful man. He was wonderful to Lucy the entire flight. He didn't care when she drooled on him or pinched his face and he even helped distract her on the way down when her ears were popping. He seemed like he was actually just loving sitting next to a baby and helping her stressed out mom!
You would think I would be used to such stress after doing this just about everytime I went to the airport with my family growing up (including the time we missed our flight from London to Switzerland and slept in the airport), but you don't ever get used to it. And don't even get me started about why I almost missed the next flight after my layover in Phoenix!
I am truly grateful for wonderful strangers who don't care why you are flaky and late, they just want to help. I am sure the Lord put that wonderful man in my path to help my day go a million times better.
I just hope I can keep my eyes open for others who may need help and be the Lord's hands where I am needed.
That man will never know how much he helped me and we will never know how much we touch the lives of others. Thank you, wherever you are.
