Well, Peanut, this past weekend you scored mommy her first "with child" freebie and a Southwest Airlines employee named Lisa became a bit of a hero.
I had to make an overnight trip half way across the country that I wasn't particularly thrilled about. While the weekend turned out to be lovely I knew the long and late trip home Sunday night would make the return to work on Monday particularly brutal and wasn't looking forward to the last leg of our travel home. Our return flight was due to take off at 5:30 pm and land just after 11:00 pm at BWI airport. While a bit cheaper, it meant a subsequent hour ride back to my car in Falls Church then drive the rest of the way home to Sterling, estimating my arrival to bed somewhere in the ballpark of 1:30 in the morning. It would be intense, is what I'm saying, and I don't know if you noticed, Peanut, but intense is not something we have been doing very much of lately.
My travel companion and I arrived to the airport an hour ahead of our flight. While I was distracted by the need to re-check my carry on suitcase that hadn't caused any concern or changed content since the day before, my friend said he needed to run to the gate and took off at a jog I wouldn't have maintained even if I wasn't expecting. I hadn't heard exactly what he said but was instantly worried we had our times wrong and he was going to catch our plane and hold it for me to catch up. I sped walked and people dodged my way to our gate at the far end of the terminal, which luckily wasn't too large, arriving in a sweaty, panting, apologetic-for-my-state-of-pregnancy mess to find my friend in haggle mode with the employee, Lisa, at the gate check in to see if we could get on the flight that was ready to depart. So, it wasn't our flight after all, but it would save us a 45 minute layover with a plane change and get us home over an hour early if we could get on this plane. Unfortunately because we hadn't purchased the right kind of tickets it would also cost an additional $600.
We hedged for a moment. I tried not to blurt out that I'd pay almost anything to get home early (it helped that I certainly couldn't AFFORD to pay anything, much less almost anything) and deferred to my more seasoned travel mate to make the best decision. He asked Lisa again, wondering if there were seats free on the plane why we couldn't take advantage of them, but she was sticking firmly to the policy. Being in customer service myself, I was not about to fault her for doing her job, but was disappointed. My friend looked at me and asked how I was feeling as he pulled out his credit card to pay for the tickets, to which I answered truthfully that I would love to get home early but by no means was incapable of going at our originally appointment time. Lisa paused and looked at me, asking if I had said I was pregnant (I had only mentioned it by way of apology when I arrived but by no means lingered on the topic or expected to use it as a tool). I confirmed and she told my friend to put his card away and gave us our new tickets for the last 2 seats on the earlier flight. I thanked her with relieved and overjoyed tears (further evidence of my delicate situation) and found myself in bed that night well before I would have even been half way home otherwise. So, thank you and Lisa for that very welcome treat!
On a more serious note, your dad and I have had a lot of dear loved ones going through some major life events in the past few months: one having difficulty expanding their family unit, one with a family member who is facing a great battle against ugly and (we hope) false allegations. Another lost her mother and some of our family members are struggling with health challenges.
Last night one of my best friends, practically a sister, lost her husband. Though of very different varieties, she and I both had struggles with successful baby making attempts. She is 5 weeks ahead of me now and we were thrilled to find out we'd spend the majority of our pregnancies in it together. We've shared some hopes and dreams about tackling the next phase in our lives as a team and I'm eager to see them come true. Right now it feels like a distant hope with the weight of what has happened, but we have mountains of love and support to give and I know that in time we can revisit happier things. In the meantime we have very heavy hearts.
Not too long ago a friend (you will learn I'm not one to use the term acquaintance, it doesn't fit in my vocabulary) of mine was coming back to town for a weekend. I hadn't seen him in quite a while and figured if he was just going to set up shop somewhere for the evening I'd like to swing by just to say hello. Turns out he was coming in town for some more significant reasons and needed to limit to visit to family and closer friends than I was, which I fully understood. What I wasn't expecting was the sort of reprimand I got from him wondering why I thought we were so close that I could get to be included. The thing is I don't think that we are that close, and if I'd known the real reason for his coming to town I wouldn't have presumed to think it would be my place to be included, but I consider him a friend and I care enough to want to make an effort, even if it's just for a moment to say hi, offer a hug and be on my way again. While I was caught off guard by his comments, and more than a little hurt, I still care and would love to offer that hug if his next trip to the area isn't so important.
I hope that that is a kind of mentality I can help inspire in you. Even people that are further to the outside of our close friendship circle deserve love and support and it is one of my greatest joys to give it every chance I can, whether it's for someone I see on a regular basis or only share Facebook messages with every once in a blue moon. People are important, their joys and struggles are significant, and if there is one thing I have appreciated so much this week it's that life is too short to not fill it with all of the love that we have and more. I am far from perfect but I want to strive to give all that I can to the people who grace my life, I pray one day you will experience the same desire.
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