And I love my birthday! I love it! I love the attention, I love the excuse to spoil myself, I love the presents and the cards and the extra chocolate I get to eat :) So I was looking forward to this spectacular day. Caleb and I had some misadventures in the morning, however, that made the day memorable if not particularly pleasant the whole time :)
I had spent the weekend in Chicago for a reunion with our Small Group (from our years during med school) and was set to fly home to Duluth with Caleb this morning. My wonderful friends treated me to a birthday breakfast before taking us to the airport. I ate a scrumptious cinnamon roll french toast dish, but on the way to O'Hare I suddenly became nauseous and wound up puking in the car :( I was so embarrassed, but thankfully they had a container on hand for me to use. We had to pull over on the highway so I could discard the remnants of my breakfast and get some fresh air. I felt remarkably better afterwards although I was still embarrassed :(
Then we hit Chicago traffic. I do not miss Chicago traffic. Let me repeat: I do not miss it! We got to O'Hare exactly one hour before my flight, which is cutting it close for such a huge airport but I figured we'd be fine as soon as I checked in. (For those of you unaware, you can't check-in early if you're traveling with an infant. Not sure why, but that's the way it is). Well, I swiped my card at the kiosk to print my boarding pass only to find that they had "no itinerary for K. Horn" and I started sweating. I tried three times and failed three times. I asked a United employee for help who just pointed to the queue to see a ticket agent. She sent me to the right which, unbeknownst to me at the time, meant I was in the line for the problem people. Everyone who went left were going through quickly with no trouble while those of us unfortunate enough to be sent to the right were waiting and waiting while everyone ahead of us were having their problems sorted out. We were in line for a long, long time, and when we finally got to the counter I already had tears in my eyes. Our flight was set to depart in 30 minutes and I didn't even have our boarding passes yet. I knew we'd never make it. I told the lady our predicament - "I know we have a reservation" - and asked the lady if there was anything she could do for us? When I told her which flight I was supposed to be on, she made a face that was unhopeful but compassionate. She asked why I arrived so late and since I was too embarrassed to tell her I vomited on the way, I said we had car trouble but also reminded her how long I had to wait in line just to talk with her.
Next, she lamented that there was nothing she could do about my scheduled flight but that she could put me on the next flight to Duluth, which departed at 9pm. 9pm. That's when I started crying for real. Tears were streaming down my face. There were no other flights to Duluth that day? No. Are you serious? Yes.
So she asked how close Minneapolis is? I said I'd go to Minneapolis, but as she checked the flights, apparently there were no seats available. All day. I found this fact hard to believe but she assured me it was true. How close is Sioux Falls? Do not send me to Sioux Falls! Okay, how about Eau Claire? More tears.
Then another United employee walked by and saw my face and asked kindly, "Oh, honey, are you okay?" I told her plainly that I was not. So she started looking at the computer too. As the two ladies were talking, it came out that my original flight to Duluth had been cancelled. My ears perked up. It had been cancelled? Yep. Cancelled. Because of thunderstorms, apparently. Everything going east/west that required a small plane had been cancelled. Flights to Minneapolis were still going because the planes were big enough to handle the weather (and thus everyone on all these other cancelled flights were being re-routed through Minneapolis and filling any open seats). But the original lady had failed to mention this to me! I was still upset, to be sure, but felt great relief that our plight was not my own fault for puking in the car and showing up late. I couldn't believe no one had mentioned that our flight had been cancelled. Good grief! Is basic communication really that difficult?
They assured me again that there were no planes going my direction that had an open seat until the 9pm flight to Duluth. I kept crying and they didn't seem to understand my overt emotion so I simply said, "I have an infant!" who was sitting quite obviously behind me in the stroller. I restrained myself from screaming, "Would you like to entertain an active one-year old boy in O'Hare for 12 hours???"
But within another minute a seat suddenly opened up on a flight to Minneapolis, which was taking off in 90 minutes. I know this was by God's grace. I practically screamed, "I'll take it!" and said a silent prayer of thanksgiving. They asked if I knew anyone there and I said yes, I have family there and I'd figure it out - just get me on that flight! So they did. My in-laws weren't in town so I called our cousin Jamie Horn who answered with a cheery, "Happy Birthday!" to which I responded with a teary "I have a huge favor to ask you..." She rearranged her schedule and came to pick us up at the airport. Then she drove us halfway to Duluth to meet my dear friend Angela who drove down to meet us and bring us the rest of the way home. They are currently my heroes, especially because they each hauled their little kids along to rescue us. I just wanted to be home after traveling for four days with a baby and I just wanted to see my husband on my birthday. And we eventually made it home thanks to these dear women!
Through all of our troubles at the airport, I restrained from wailing that it was my 30th birthday and how much worse the whole situation was made because of this simple fact. But I soon discovered that the lady sitting next to me on the plane was supposed to go to Duluth that morning too and also got sent to Minneapolis instead and it was her birthday too! I couldn't believe it. We commiserated and enjoyed talking and gave each other birthday wishes. It was a point of light in the midst of my stress.
The one other thing that frustrated me was Caleb's inability to fall asleep on the plane....until I nursed him. Let me briefly mention that I weaned him more than two weeks ago. It was a milestone for both of us, but we've moved on and he's done great without nursing. But man oh man, he gave me a fit on the plane till I gave up and "nursed" him. He's never taken a pacifier and he's a notoriously bad napper to begin with and he simply wouldn't stop crying and go to sleep any other way. He didn't want his sippy cup. He didn't want his Cheerios. He didn't want to snuggle on my shoulder with a blanket. He wanted me. And I was annoyed. And he wouldn't let go the entire flight. I tried multiple times to break free from my sleeping son, but each time I made a stealthy attempt he instantly aroused and started whining, looking for me again. I finally gave up. It was annoying.
But we made it to Minneapolis, and because of my amazingly faithful and compassionate friends, Caleb and I made it home to Duluth even before Eli got home from work. And all in all, it actually was a blessing because I got to see two of my closest friends on my birthday, which wouldn't have happened otherwise. And Caleb was a trooper. I was so proud of him for dealing with our traveling troubles so well. And he was just as glad to see Eli as I was :)
home again, feeling good after bathing off our travel grime
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my birthday buddy
Then, to my surprise, Eli had previously arranged for our friend to watch Caleb in the evening so he could take me out to dinner for my birthday. This was the same friend who graciously came to our rescue earlier in the day and brought us the rest of the way to Duluth. So she was my hero twice yesterday :) Eli took me to a place in Canal Park called Grizzly's, which I love because they have an amazingly delicious honey basil chicken sandwich. Mmm, mmm, mmm. And then he took me to play mini golf! I love mini golf and we hadn't played in a very long time. It was loads of fun! On the way out we stopped at a photo booth, which we'd never done before, but now it's a great little memento of how my 30th birthday ended: joyfully!
please notice that the birthday girl won :)
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