Friday, January 12, 2018

From the Plane to the Van: A Change of Plans

I've been too nervous to write, or email, or even text.

I've been pacing and cleaning, but not packing, not yet.

Tessie and I were supposed to leave tonight, flying on Jet Blue from Detroit to Boston.


The weather, at least from what I'd seen all week, looked mild.  We don't have cable but every time I checked I would see "flurries in the a.m."  That looked non-threatening enough.

Still, even as the snow melted yesterday and a balmy breeze blew through the yard I was uneasy.

As I drifted off to sleep last night I laid out the day in my head.

Get Sadie to school.  Patch doesn't have pre-school on Fridays, so he would be home with Tessie and James and me.  Put away the last load of laundry that was still in the dryer and pack.  Scrub down the spare car seat and adjust the straps to fit Tessie. Pack a bag. Clean up any messes the boys had made in the mean time, and meet with Tessie's early interventionist for the last time, to be introduced to the special education teacher that would now be taking over her case.

Sadie would get home.  Paul would come home from work early. And I would install the carseat in his car and off we'd got to the airport for our seven p.m. flight.

I noticed how tired I felt at seven last night, as I was helping get the boys ready for bed, and didn't relish the idea of wrestling my twenty five pound lap baby for an hour and forty five minutes while I felt like dropping off to sleep.

At 5:45 my alarm sounded and for the first time in months I hit sleep, thinking that Sadie is always ready fifteen minutes before the bus arrives anyways, and that she could sleep in a few minutes too.
Before five minutes passed, my phone rang.

It was Maggie's school with a robo call, canceling the school day for "anticipated weather conditions."

I rolled onto my stomach and hit the email icon on my phone as Paul said "I got a text that the flight is canceled."


The next half hour was a blur.  Sadie's school called next, and then a text came from Maggie's therapy center and Tessie's therapist canceling their sessions as well.  Our entire days had been effectively cleared.

JetBlue had rebooked me on a flight the next day at 6am, which technically should get me to my appointment but I had played that game before.  Our first flight had been the afternoon before the appointment.  It had been cancelled.  They had then promised to get us on a flight the next day.

That had also been cancelled.

I didn't feel confident taking another flight that would make us vulnerable to the whim of the airline.

Which is what this felt like... I understood being grounded for the blizzard in Boston last week...  but it was harder to accept being grounded for a snowstorm that was dumping a few inches of snow and that would be out of Michigan hours before my flight was set to take off.

I'm sure there's more to the decision to cancel the flight, and that obviously I'm not privy to the decision making process, but at 6 am I knew that I wanted the decision of whether we were going to Boston or staying to be out of JetBlue's hands.

After checking the weather online and out the window we agreed to give driving a try.

I became a packing whirlwind.  I threw together a bag for Paul, Tessie and I, and then grabbed backpacks and packed four backpacks for the four big kids, each one full of everything they would need for a weekend away from home.

At the end of an hour of getting kids dressed and packing I woke up Tessie, got her a quick breakfast and everyone piled into the car.

It had started to snow.  There was maybe an inch of powdery white stuff turning Michigan back into a wintery wonderland.


It did take a little bit longer than normal to get down to Ohio, which was especially disappointing to Sadie who asked "are we in Ohio yet" approximately fifteen minutes after we pulled out of our driveway.

The storm was moving along with us, but by the time we got midway through Ohio we'd outrun the snow and now, nine hours into our adventure, we are halfway across New York, and we should make it to our destination just past Boston a little after ten.

"Are we there yet?" is our family motto.

Unfortunately so far the answer is a resounding no.

The entertainment of the moment is spending the afternoon on hold with JetBlue as I write (so far this entire) post.  Last time after the cancellation the first person we spoke to attempted to charge us to reschedule the second cancelled (by JetBlue) flight.

I'm not sure what is going to happen, or what I even want to happen, when they pick up the phone this time.  Because I really don't want their tickets... anywhere.  

If I ever get to talk to I guess we'll see.

Here is a glimpse of our day:


Update: JetBlue refunded the tickets!  So at least that is done with!

2 comments:

  1. Always love the updates! Thanks. Michelle

    ReplyDelete
  2. I am glad you got a refund!! I hope the appointment goes well and you have safe travels!!

    ReplyDelete

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