Wow, what a weekend
Wow, what a weekend…………
I was the mystery scrapper at the Pennsylvania crop. I elected to stay a mystery as I did not want people to cancel if I was going to be there, or come specifically if I was going to be there. I didn’t want any drama. The plan was Nancy was supposed to drop me off at the grocery store go set up in the crop room, and then I would saunter in, push my way into the reserved tables and set up, and see if anyone recognized me. LOL.
Well it just didn’t work out like that.
In March on the day I bought the tickets. I phoned my Mom and asked her if she was sure she would be able to handle the kids for a weekend if DH had to work. She said she was sure. This after DH had informed me the guy that was going to cover for him decided to go to Vegas for holidays that weekend. That very night, my Mom calls me and asks me to take her to the hospital. She had been in severe pain that morning when I talked to her but did not want to disappoint me so said nothing. She had her appendix out and almost died due to complications.
The week before the crop it started snowing in Alberta, a real spring snowstorm. Zero visability, cold, icy, terrible road conditions. Was supposed to last 3 days, it lasted a week. I ended up leaving work on Thursday and taking a bus for the two hour drive to Calgary and spending the night in a hotel room. The next morning watching the local news it was zero visability on the highway and a roll over closed part of it. So glad I had taken the safe way the day before.
The flight to Chicago was uneventful, it even left on time. I am known to be a might bit of a delay queen when it comes to flights. Something always seems to happen. I landed in C in Chicago and checked my flight it was leaving from F in about half an hour. It was on time and since I was told it was a 15 minute walk decided to walk it to get the exercise. The underground neon sidewalk is an awesome sight. By the time I get to F my flight is delayed, then delayed again. Then an announcement says the airport is “suspended” and they are removing the handlers and crew from outside. We could see a little rain but that was it. Flights were being delayed, cancelled, and nothing was being told to anyone. Lines at the help desks were insane. I finally got put on a “standby flight” to Pittsburg that night. Meanwhile I have had frantic phone calls, between me, Nancy, Home, and panic, and frustration, and anxiety all kicking in.
I get a call from Becky and she offers to come get me in the morning if I am still there. We could spend some time together. It was so nice to hear a friendly voice.
The Turkey Guys:
I am in line at the help desk and mention to someone I am going to Butler, there is a tap on my shoulder and two guys start talking to me. Nascar shirts, a little worse for wear, fuzzy big beards, and they ask me if I am from there. Nope just visiting. They say they are from there, and the guy volunteers he is a redneck, he has only ever been on an airplane once. I jokingly say what the one that brought him here? Turns out these back woods guys from Pennsylvania had bought tags to hunt turkey in Nebraska. It cost them $800 for the tags, and then it cost them for the trip there, and the trip home. Then he starts going on that the airline had made them buy these special shipping containers with dry ice to ship the turkeys in. Also turns out they were scheduled for a flight to Pittsburgh at 2 that day that had been cancelled, then put on the 4:30 one that was mine, that was cancelled. Now they were all worried about the turkeys unthawing. I find this so freaking funny for some reason, all that money spent to get turkeys, and there they were unthawing somewhere. Talked a little about Nascar but they were big Dale Jr. fans, and not high on Tony’s list of fans.
The Young Teen:
I had been sitting for quite a while when an uncertain young lady came and sat beside me. We struck up a conversation and talked about her finishing school. She had flown in from Utah that day and was getting picked up by her parents in Pittsburgh. She thought it was so neat I was getting together with scrapping people, she liked it but couldn’t find anyone in Utah to scrap with. That was weird. Anyway she is almost in tears as if she doesn’t get to Pittsburgh tonight her parents will be unable to pick her up until after five Saturday as they were hosting a conference. We both ended up getting a standby for a close to midnight flight, but didn’t hold much hope for it. Our confirmed flights for the next day had her getting to Pittsburgh at 1:30pm and me getting in at 4:06 p.m. I would have missed the purpose of my visit entirely. She was so sorry to hear that, and offered to have the ticket agent change my flight to hers, and give her flight to me so that I would not miss the entire crop. That was so absolutely touching for me.
In the meantime Nancy had told me if I could go to Cleveland to go there. So I got a confirmed flight to Cleveland at midnight. I am on the phone with Nancy and getting her to book a hotel room for me while I was on the plane, the stewardess is telling me to turn off the phone, I am frantically trying to write down the number. The plane was rocking from one side to the other, I thought if it was that bad on the ground what was it going to be in the air. And I was in a middle seat, not good for my anxiety.
The Freak me Out Guy:
At midnight the flight to Cleveland is going to take off. It gets moved from midnight to 11:30, to 11. That was all good for me. My ride was unable to pick me up in Cleveland that late. I would have to take a taxi to the hotel that was really close to the airport. The guy sitting beside the window seriously freaked me out. He would take the end of the seat belt, and just slam it against his hand, like a belt whipping. Then he would do this strange thing with his fingers, slamming them into the other hand, and then he would stamp his heel onto the plane floor. I am stuck in the middle seat, and all I could think of was I was between him and the aisle, he would go through me to get there. He would hit his hand against the plane wall. Slam the window cover up and down. Seriously scaring me. Only good thing is he kept me so involved, that I had no clue how the flight turbulence really was.
Touching offer of help
We land in Cleveland and I have to find the united claim baggage help desk to file a claim on my suitcase that was hopefully going to Pittsburgh. I then start following the signs to the taxis. A man starts yelling from behind me, I couldn’t make out what he was saying. He caught up with me he was Cleveland Police, and said he would put in a call for a taxi as none would be there at 2 am. He tells me not to wait outside, only to go out once a taxi comes. There are two men and three women waiting for taxis. One cab comes he asks for a specific name, it was one of the men. The second cab comes and he asks everyone where they are going, he takes the other man as he is the farthest away. The third cab comes and he asks everyone where they are going and takes one of the women. So that leaves me and one other lady. She must have seen the look on my face, as she says don’t worry I won’t leave you here alone. The next cabby comes and says where are you going. I tell him, and he asks the other woman, and she says she will tell him once I am dropped off, as I am really close. She was telling me her mom was gravely ill and she did not know if she would still be alive when she got to the hospital or not. She took the time out to help me out, when her Mom was dying. That touched me deeply. The hotel was close to the airport, in daylight I could easily have walked the distance. So I pay the cabby, then she tells him where she is going.
I have no suitcase, no nothing except my purse, checking into a hotel at 2:45 am. I go to the front desk no one is there, hello, hello, hello, I finally have to get to the point I am yelling hello. The guy comes to the desk and says, oh I was having a little nap. He couldn’t find the reservation Nancy had made, I had to sort through all the crap stuffed into my purse to find the reservation number. I ask for a comb and toothbrush and toothpaste and head to bed. Finally at 4 am I am calm enough to sleep, Nancy calls me at 6:58, telling me K is on his way to pick me up. I roll over and go back to sleep.
I was the mystery scrapper at the Pennsylvania crop. I elected to stay a mystery as I did not want people to cancel if I was going to be there, or come specifically if I was going to be there. I didn’t want any drama. The plan was Nancy was supposed to drop me off at the grocery store go set up in the crop room, and then I would saunter in, push my way into the reserved tables and set up, and see if anyone recognized me. LOL.
Well it just didn’t work out like that.
In March on the day I bought the tickets. I phoned my Mom and asked her if she was sure she would be able to handle the kids for a weekend if DH had to work. She said she was sure. This after DH had informed me the guy that was going to cover for him decided to go to Vegas for holidays that weekend. That very night, my Mom calls me and asks me to take her to the hospital. She had been in severe pain that morning when I talked to her but did not want to disappoint me so said nothing. She had her appendix out and almost died due to complications.
The week before the crop it started snowing in Alberta, a real spring snowstorm. Zero visability, cold, icy, terrible road conditions. Was supposed to last 3 days, it lasted a week. I ended up leaving work on Thursday and taking a bus for the two hour drive to Calgary and spending the night in a hotel room. The next morning watching the local news it was zero visability on the highway and a roll over closed part of it. So glad I had taken the safe way the day before.
The flight to Chicago was uneventful, it even left on time. I am known to be a might bit of a delay queen when it comes to flights. Something always seems to happen. I landed in C in Chicago and checked my flight it was leaving from F in about half an hour. It was on time and since I was told it was a 15 minute walk decided to walk it to get the exercise. The underground neon sidewalk is an awesome sight. By the time I get to F my flight is delayed, then delayed again. Then an announcement says the airport is “suspended” and they are removing the handlers and crew from outside. We could see a little rain but that was it. Flights were being delayed, cancelled, and nothing was being told to anyone. Lines at the help desks were insane. I finally got put on a “standby flight” to Pittsburg that night. Meanwhile I have had frantic phone calls, between me, Nancy, Home, and panic, and frustration, and anxiety all kicking in.
I get a call from Becky and she offers to come get me in the morning if I am still there. We could spend some time together. It was so nice to hear a friendly voice.
The Turkey Guys:
I am in line at the help desk and mention to someone I am going to Butler, there is a tap on my shoulder and two guys start talking to me. Nascar shirts, a little worse for wear, fuzzy big beards, and they ask me if I am from there. Nope just visiting. They say they are from there, and the guy volunteers he is a redneck, he has only ever been on an airplane once. I jokingly say what the one that brought him here? Turns out these back woods guys from Pennsylvania had bought tags to hunt turkey in Nebraska. It cost them $800 for the tags, and then it cost them for the trip there, and the trip home. Then he starts going on that the airline had made them buy these special shipping containers with dry ice to ship the turkeys in. Also turns out they were scheduled for a flight to Pittsburgh at 2 that day that had been cancelled, then put on the 4:30 one that was mine, that was cancelled. Now they were all worried about the turkeys unthawing. I find this so freaking funny for some reason, all that money spent to get turkeys, and there they were unthawing somewhere. Talked a little about Nascar but they were big Dale Jr. fans, and not high on Tony’s list of fans.
The Young Teen:
I had been sitting for quite a while when an uncertain young lady came and sat beside me. We struck up a conversation and talked about her finishing school. She had flown in from Utah that day and was getting picked up by her parents in Pittsburgh. She thought it was so neat I was getting together with scrapping people, she liked it but couldn’t find anyone in Utah to scrap with. That was weird. Anyway she is almost in tears as if she doesn’t get to Pittsburgh tonight her parents will be unable to pick her up until after five Saturday as they were hosting a conference. We both ended up getting a standby for a close to midnight flight, but didn’t hold much hope for it. Our confirmed flights for the next day had her getting to Pittsburgh at 1:30pm and me getting in at 4:06 p.m. I would have missed the purpose of my visit entirely. She was so sorry to hear that, and offered to have the ticket agent change my flight to hers, and give her flight to me so that I would not miss the entire crop. That was so absolutely touching for me.
In the meantime Nancy had told me if I could go to Cleveland to go there. So I got a confirmed flight to Cleveland at midnight. I am on the phone with Nancy and getting her to book a hotel room for me while I was on the plane, the stewardess is telling me to turn off the phone, I am frantically trying to write down the number. The plane was rocking from one side to the other, I thought if it was that bad on the ground what was it going to be in the air. And I was in a middle seat, not good for my anxiety.
The Freak me Out Guy:
At midnight the flight to Cleveland is going to take off. It gets moved from midnight to 11:30, to 11. That was all good for me. My ride was unable to pick me up in Cleveland that late. I would have to take a taxi to the hotel that was really close to the airport. The guy sitting beside the window seriously freaked me out. He would take the end of the seat belt, and just slam it against his hand, like a belt whipping. Then he would do this strange thing with his fingers, slamming them into the other hand, and then he would stamp his heel onto the plane floor. I am stuck in the middle seat, and all I could think of was I was between him and the aisle, he would go through me to get there. He would hit his hand against the plane wall. Slam the window cover up and down. Seriously scaring me. Only good thing is he kept me so involved, that I had no clue how the flight turbulence really was.
Touching offer of help
We land in Cleveland and I have to find the united claim baggage help desk to file a claim on my suitcase that was hopefully going to Pittsburgh. I then start following the signs to the taxis. A man starts yelling from behind me, I couldn’t make out what he was saying. He caught up with me he was Cleveland Police, and said he would put in a call for a taxi as none would be there at 2 am. He tells me not to wait outside, only to go out once a taxi comes. There are two men and three women waiting for taxis. One cab comes he asks for a specific name, it was one of the men. The second cab comes and he asks everyone where they are going, he takes the other man as he is the farthest away. The third cab comes and he asks everyone where they are going and takes one of the women. So that leaves me and one other lady. She must have seen the look on my face, as she says don’t worry I won’t leave you here alone. The next cabby comes and says where are you going. I tell him, and he asks the other woman, and she says she will tell him once I am dropped off, as I am really close. She was telling me her mom was gravely ill and she did not know if she would still be alive when she got to the hospital or not. She took the time out to help me out, when her Mom was dying. That touched me deeply. The hotel was close to the airport, in daylight I could easily have walked the distance. So I pay the cabby, then she tells him where she is going.
I have no suitcase, no nothing except my purse, checking into a hotel at 2:45 am. I go to the front desk no one is there, hello, hello, hello, I finally have to get to the point I am yelling hello. The guy comes to the desk and says, oh I was having a little nap. He couldn’t find the reservation Nancy had made, I had to sort through all the crap stuffed into my purse to find the reservation number. I ask for a comb and toothbrush and toothpaste and head to bed. Finally at 4 am I am calm enough to sleep, Nancy calls me at 6:58, telling me K is on his way to pick me up. I roll over and go back to sleep.
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