Wasted Time?

Flying down the freeway going a little faster than I should have, Ashton and I were seriously stressed. We got a late start leaving the house to drop Ashton off at the airport to head out to Utah. I felt good about making it in time, figuring we could make it if we didn’t hit traffic. UGH! We hit traffic. Construction closed the right and left lanes off and on and traffic was moving slowly. Frustration. My back muscles were so tense and Ashton kept saying we weren’t going to make it. Well, she was right. We pulled up to the curb to check in her luggage and the guy wouldn’t take it. He said we were too late to check it in. What?! We had just a little less than 45 minutes until the plane was scheduled for takeoff. Evidently you can’t check luggage in with 45 minutes or less until takeoff. Oh, the stress factor just went up a notch. We trudged into the building dragging Ashton’s big black suitcase, a large, bold, zebra print suitcase with hot pink trim, and a small hot pink carry on-sized number. The ladies at the counter were very kind in helping us with our huge dilemma. We were told we could book a new flight at the price of $680 or wait a half hour and take the chance of getting on the 6:30 flight which was in 3.5 hours. We took our chances and waited. The clock just didn’t move as we nibbled on our fingernails and paced the airport dragging our suitcases. At 3:30 we stood in line again….SUCCCESS! There was an opening on the 6:30 flight. Now we just had to wait.

This is where the real fun began. Lunch was ordered at the Atlanta Bread Co. and we plopped ourselves on some high back stools at the counter ready to eat and kill some time. Yummy sandwiches and salads were quickly devoured and there was still a ton of time left. After chatting for a while the conversation began to drag. I was watching people walk the halls in front of us and mentioned that everybody has a story. That started it. We laughed for two hours as we watched, analyzed, and made up stories to fit the characters that entered our view. The Atlanta airport is very international and we were able to come up with some incredible stories that caused us to laugh out of control crazy!

My personal favorites:

*Large black woman, outrageously well-endowed, unusually small ankles and feet. We decided that she had come to Atlanta to see a doctor that specializes in foot- lengthening surgery. Being top heavy has been a problem her whole life and she is tired of tipping over all the time. The woman was here for a consultation in hopes for a better way of life.

*Two men dressed in navy blue custodian uniforms wandered around everywhere, looking very suspicious. They communicated often on walkie talkies. We suspected that they were undercover cops on a stakeout. It seriously looked suspicious. They did this activity for the whole two hours we were sitting there.

*An old, Indian gentlemen walked by with his black suitcase in tow. In the other hand was a little tiny black grocery bag tied closed. Something heavy was inside the bag. We concluded that he had just taken his dog for a walk and was carrying the dodo with him to dispose of. It looked just like the little bags of dodo that my neighbors carry around while they are walking their dogs. What a nice dog owner to clean up after his little canine friend.

Some may think that I wasted three hours at the airport. Not so. I had a blast spending time with my daughter laughing and crying (just a little). I was amazed how quickly the time passed doing nothing but hanging out.