the inconvenience of modern convenience

last night, luke and i left for the airport a little after 6pm. we didn't need to be there until a few minutes after seven. but, when i factored in traffic and a run through chick-fil-a for my dinner, that was the time we left.

we didn't want to be late. we hadn't seen michael in four days. that's a long time to be a single mom when you're used to having a husband available to wipe a little nose. and change diapers.

i checked michael's flight status right before we left. on time. perfect!

even though i took the wrong exit to chick-fil-a and had to turn around, we made it to the airport with a few minutes to spare. enough time for me to eat my grilled chicken sandwich while it softly started to rain.

right before we got out of the car, i check the flight status again on my iphone. 7:35. thirty minutes late. i can easily entertain a 12-month-old for that long.

i unloaded luke, took him inside and he started to walk around the baggage carousel holding my hand.

we hadn't been there 10 minutes when a voice came over the intercom. attention those waiting for flight 1099. ugh. the flight had been rerouted and wouldn't arrive until after 9pm. i hadn't brought any toys for luke. no one can entertain a tired 12-month-old without toys for two hours when he's up past his bedtime.

by this time, it'd started to rain harder. we attempted to find a nearby mall, but with the rain falling harder and harder each mile i drove, i settled for a target parking lot. luke was unusually quiet, looking out the window, probably enjoyed the rain. i listened to talk radio. my phone battery was almost dead.

a few minutes after 8pm, michael called. we're most likely going to have to spend the night in austin. ugh again. the "storm" which just seemed like rain to me had pretty much shut down our airport. he told me to make the 30-minute drive home. he'd call me when he knew more.

i made it home through a hard rain and put lukie to bed. michael called. his flight was actually about to leave and he'd be home around 10pm. if the pilot can slip in through the storm. i could actually get back to the airport to find out that were going to be in a holding pattern until the storm cleared. my frugal husband allowed me to make a split-second decision to not wake luke up in order to save $50 to pick him up.

he took a cab.

and walked through the door at 11:06pm. after his flight circled around and landed at 10:25. considering his day of travel began at 10am, he was wiped out. he could almost have driven home in the same amount of time.

modern isn't always convenient.