Our Trip Home

As I said I would more details about our trip home...but really "delayed" is the best way to describe it - we left Memphis about five hours late - we were kept in a room with a broken vending machine. It would have been nice to have food other than a few biscuits and snack items. But we survived.

Then we were to be on the ground in CA for four hours - but that turned into more like six...at least one was spent on a bus on the runway and then maybe another one on the plane before we finally took off.

In Hawaii we were to have a 19 hour lay over for "crew rest" (which is normal). That turned into a extra 24 hours wait. At one point we were taken on the bus to the plane and watched the luggage and food loaded on before they took up back to the terminal. Very frustrating. I needed to keep repeating, "It's free....this is free....free." The kids and I ended up spending one night in the terminal because they didn't tell us the flight would be delayed until about 10:30 pm - way too late to call my friend to come and get me (her husband was gone and she has four kids under 8). I did think about just taking a taxi to a hotel - as Drew said he would have! But with three kids, three large suitcases, and four back=packs, it was just easier to stay with than calling around for a hotel, then a taxi, etc.

When we got to Hawaii, we found friends in the terminal - so we weren't alone. The teenager that I mentor in sewing and her family was there - her mom is a friend so it was great to be with them. They had already been in HI two night waiting for a flight. Leslee and I became friends with another mom there. Dawn was with her four year old. They had been there for three weeks visiting her husband (who was TDY off his Navy ship) and a friend.

In fact I brought Dawn and her daughter home with me two nights here in Guam as they were stuck here. Thankfully late yesterday they finally got back to their house in Japan. She and most of the others on the flight trying to get to Japan finally gave up on that plane and took another one to Japan. In fact, I think the plane is still here in Guam broken.

Looking back, it could have been so much worse. I meet other military moms traveling with children that had been stuck either in CA or HI for over a week. It really could have been so much worse.

Overall, the kids were good. Those little "DS" games they had gotten were a great help in keeping them entertained.

The good part is I now have a new friend, Dawn - it was really nice to meet her. We're going to try to meet up again in Hawaii where the regional PWOC is hosting a retreat.

So, now we're home - today I finally got everything out of the suitcases and put away. I've been busy making sure all of my PWOC responsibilities are taken care of and we are getting ready for our fall Bible studies and retreats. Lots of things planned!