My mother has the sloooooowest internet connection ever! I'll be spending the next few days figuring out what she has on here and trying to optimize her settings for some speed. I mean, I realize dial-up is quite a bit slower than DSL but I still have to use dial up when I'm at work and it's nowhere near this slow.
Meanwhile: Greetings from Buffalo! You know how when you've been suffering with a situtation or a condition and then one day you finally stumble on to the solution, while you're happy almost giddy with glee at the thought of not having to deal with a problem anymore, by the same token another part of you is chastising yourself as an idiot for not having found the answer sooner. Such is the case with me and my anxieties regarding flying. Right before leaving the house, in anticipation of a one hour commute to JFK, I took the combination anti-anxiety meds and headed bravely out the door. I hopped on the "L" to Brooklyn then switched to the "A" out to Howard Beach and then transferred to the new train to the plane for the last leg. May I say just for the record if you haven't had the pleasure of taking this new route to JFK it's da bomb, yo. You are protected from the weather the entire trip, no more standing outside on a freezing cold subway platform. The new trains are spacious and clean and if you remember to secure a $20 Metrocard before you get into the system, you never have to stop at a booth or speak to anyone the entire time. It's swipe/train/train/swipe/train/arrive at terminal. My trip took an hour and fifteen minutes. It was delightful. Somewhere around the end of the Howard Beach leg of my trip I felt my body start to go limp. From the inside. I yawned. I crossed my legs and read The Voice. No nerves, no anxiety. I arrived at the terminal with a half hour to spare. I had no luggage to check and went immediately to a print your own bording pass kiosk. 30 seconds later I was heading for the gate. I may not be the most experienced traveler but if there's one thing The Duchess is good at it's exploiting technology to jump the line. With a dismissive glance at the poor suckers in a very long line I was off to have my shoes x-rayed. I'm not even sure if it's a requirement anymore I just send my shoes down the belt on the off chance I'll be asked to and again, no time for that. I got them for 35% off at Filene's Basement if you must know.
Unfortunately, the rain that blew in had intensified into a full-fledged storm so upon arrival at the gate my flight was listed as delayed. Indeed judging by how packed the terminal was all the flights appeared delayed. Luckily I had my spankin' new cell phone with me and dutifully dialed the parents back home to let them know and then sent text messages to my friends that read something like this:
Flight's been delayed.
I love pills.
About an hour and a half later the storm let up and the sun was out and it was announced that the plane we needed was landing and would be serviced (lucky plane) and then we could mount it and get our ride (or something). So I called the family and gave them the news. Sure enough about a half hour later we began boarding the plane. While people were settling in the rain returned and the skies grew darker. The thunder started rumbling too. Which of course meant lightning.. another delay. Two hours later we haven't even left the gate. Funny, the medication didn't stop me from being annoyed but beyond that, I sat, I read, I fought off sleep. Then I did in fact doze a bit. Finally, my 5:15 flight started taxiing down the runway at around 8:40. I don't think we were actually in the air until around 9 pm. Our ETA in Buffalo had gone to after 10. A few minutes into the flight we hit some wicked turbulence before we crossed the Appalachians. I glanced up, turned the page of my magazine and went back to watching the Game Show Network. We landed around 10:05. No one was there to greet me. Turns out they had already been out to the airport once and couldn't get any information there as to whether or not the plane was even taking off so they went home and tried to get the information on-line. They found out we were in the air about 1/2 hour before we landed. So Mom and Dad and my niece showed up about five minutes after I exited the jetway. They looked good. My niece was slightly taller than I remember and Mom and Dad were slightly smaller. But only slightly. Which was good. It was late, so we decided to enjoy the fine cuisine at our local Denny's. My niece and I picked up right where we left off. We have a bond that doesn't seem affected by time or distance. Simply put, I get her. And she gets me. And in the years to come I vow to make sure we grow closer. She's going to be an extraordinary woman. We were talking at dinner and the subject of the money she gets from my late sister's social security payments came up. She told me she has upwards of $20K already in that account.
"I'm going to buy a really nice car."
"As if. You're going to be the first member of this family to graduate from college. Didn't you get the memo?"
She just smiled and stole another freedom fry. But we both knew I wasn't kidding.
No comments:
Post a Comment