Thursday, June 18th: It was going to be a scorcher in North Carolina today. Matt and Colin woke up early and were off to work out in the fitness center at Michelle’s apartment complex. It was the perfect morning for to work out in air conditioned comfort and then swim in the nice cool pool that was surrounded by shade trees. After this leisurely start to the day, we headed north back to Gettysburg, PA. We were stuck in traffic outside of Washington, DC for an hour or so, but eventually we made it back to Gettysburg. The Neitz family welcomed many out of town guests that night because they had a wedding in Virginia the next day, but fun was had by all. Nothing quite like playing capture the flag in the dark in our old neighborhood!
Friday, June 19th after Mass and a visit with my old buddy Father Pistone, it was time to head down to Mount St. Mary’s again to pick up Ian. Luckily, HIS old buddy Danny invited him over for a sleepover, and graciously, we were all invited to stay for an amazing barbeque and a swim. We had so much fun catching up with the whole Lopes family.
Saturday morning, June 20th, I met my mentor Dave for what was to be our annual walk on the battlefield. I invited the boys along, but they were still snoozing. Unfortunately, it was raining buckets, and instead of battling the elements, we opted for breakfast at Friendly’s instead. We always have so much to catch up on, but instead of getting healthy while we gabbed, we added a little delicious meal to the mix!
When I returned to the house, the boys were ready to go. We stopped to pick up Ian and then we were off to the airport (Baltimore-Washington International Airport) in Baltimore, MD. It didn’t seem possible that we were saying goodbye to Matt already. I presented Matt with a scrapbook of our memories and activities over the past 12 days together. We had driven/ridden almost 4,000 miles and seen so many faces and places along the way. Traffic was cruising along with us all of the way to Baltimore, we could have never suspected what would be waiting for us.
We pulled into the short term parking and escorted Matt over to the terminal. There is something about an airport that I have always loved. The hustle and bustle have always intrigued me. When I was little, my Mom and Dad would take us out to eat on our birthdays, and we got to choose the place. I remember more than once, I chose the airport restaurant in Burlington, Vermont. At one time, I thought that my career path would take me down a different road; I wanted to be a flight attendant. Sorry…I digress just prior to recounting Matt’s minor emergency here.
So, Matt and I approached the electronic kiosk to sign him in and get his boarding passes. Where was the candid camera? This had to be some sort of joke right? He put in all of the appropriate information, and lo and behold, the kiosk displayed a screen that said something like… “We apologize for the inconvenience, but your flight has been cancelled. Unfortunately, there are no other flights to your destination out of this airport today. Would you like to fly out tomorrow? (Click yes or no) Please see a ticket agent.”
Matt and I sort of looked puzzled at one another, and after I comfortingly muttered, “Well, that can’t be right.” J I looked to our right and saw a long line of folks waiting to speak to a ticket agent. Now, I thought that we had arrived at the airport in plenty of time for Matt’s flight, but either there were a bunch of flights cancelled that day or many folks arrive 2 ½ hours before their departure times! COMMUNICATION FROM A KIOSK HAS MUCH TO BE DESIRED. I feel it is one thing to be checking in and to be given bad news by a human being. The nonverbal facial expression and the empathy that it conveys, in most cases, would soften the blow. Poor Matt!
As we made our way to the ticket agent, Matt explained the electronic message. She presented a variety of scenarios by which he could get home by…like Wednesday. He pleadingly looked at me and the ticket agent asked me where “we” live. I tried to explain that we live in Nebraska, were coming from Gettysburg and were on our way to New Jersey. She looked confused, and I couldn’t blame her. Matt offered to spend a couple of nights in the airport, but I wouldn’t have it! I asked the ticket agent if there were any flights out of Newark, New Jersey on Sunday. Joyous accomplishment washed over her face. She announced that she had one seat left on a flight leaving Newark, New Jersey the next day at 2o’clockish in the afternoon. It flew to Chicago first, but Matt wouldn’t even need to leave the plane because it would be flying directly to Omaha thereafter. We had her save the seat and hurriedly called Matt’s Mom for approval. In the meantime, the airline had called her to let her know about the cancellation. Cell phones are amazing things!
What a crazy situation! First the airline said it was bad weather in Chicago that had caused the cancellation. I called my sister-in-law in Chicago who said that it was sunny and warm in the windy city. Next they said it was a mechanical problem. Yikes! We couldn’t have that. We copied down all of the information, and we were “on the road again!” With the motto and firm belief that everything happens for a reason, we made our way to Jersey. To be continued…
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