This weekend, I ventured to Baltimore to attend my father's wedding. It was a lovely affair but started rather odd and extremely early. I was the only one going as Debbie could not take time off and a short trip would be murder on Lauren. Also, my in-laws came into town on Friday and we don't trust them enough to leave them at the house alone :D
The alarm went off at 4:15 am (that's before the sun's alarm goes off and the moon is having it's afternoon tea) on Saturday morning and I was out of bed at 4:30, in the car by 5:00. The roads were suprisingly full, but I made it to the airport in plenty of time for my 6:40 am flight. We boarded the plane and I found out I was in the very last row ... all by myself. As we were all readying ourselves for taxi and takeoff, the airplane suddenly lost power and quickly regained it. I thought nothing of it as I figured they were just unplugging the plane from the aiport. Then, we sat ... and sat ... and sat. About 25 minutes later, the pilot came on and said that little blip in power was actually O'Hare experiencing a minor power surge and that something shorted on the plane. The mechanics were currently looking into the problem and, if they needed to do any kind of repairs, it would be a good 30 minute delay. About 5 minutes after that, the pilot comes on the intercom and states the mechanics want to "try something". They want to reboot the plane. This is when I was concerned. When a vehicle that travels 700 mph at 30000 feet requires the same debugging as my PC at home, I worry. So, they rebooted the plane and apparently, that cleared that pesky old alarm in the cockpit, so we took off.
Everything went smoothly til I got lost driving to my dad's fiancee's house. I think I missed the exit by a good 15 miles. Fortunately, flying out of O'Hare that early left me a little "Get lost" time. The wedding itself was wonderful as I got to hang with my brother, Scott, and his family; my sister, Kayhla; my Sister-in-law and her children. My niece Catie was adorable because when she saw me at the hall, she ran over and gave me a big hug, then proceeded to look around. "Where's Aunt Debbie?" she wanted to know. I had to tell her that Aunt Debbie and Lauren couldn't make it and she got a little sad. The food was wonderufl, but I later learned that the reception was actually a pre-reception (though not be design). You see, Serafina (my dad's new wife), is Italian. So, when we all went back to their place after the reception, she proceeded to lay out a spread that would put most weddings to shame. Food was EVERYWHERE! Great food too ... this woman knows how to work an oven!
I couldn't stay too long, because I wanted to drive up and see my mom. She would have been crushed if I travelled all the way to Baltimore and didn't get a chance to see her. We had fun as I helped them move enough kitty liter to absorb the Atlantic Ocean. Then it was off to dinner where we had a wonderful time.
After that, I headed back to my sister's place to crash for the night. This time, I had to leave the place by 7:00 am for a 9:00 am flight. Unfortunately, she had an Xbox 360 with Madden 2005, so sleep was not in my near future. I think I did manage about 5 hours. Then, it was home to my lovely MUCH older wife (because I still had 1 day to play that card).
I will say one more thing. There is nothing like the smile that comes across my daughter's face when she sees me round the corner into the family room. No matter how horrible my day went, that smile never fails to brighten my day. Then, the big hug I get just makes it all complete. I just wish she didn't have to do the
Poopy Dance while I was holding her.
