A Long Trip Home...

Casey and I just got back yesterday from a trip in Florida.  My cousin, Rachel, just got married, which was the entire reason we went down there.  I'll blog more about that, later, but I need to blog about our trip home before I forget too many of the details...

Neither one of us slept well the night before.  It was 3:30 in the morning when our alarm went off.  Let me tell you: Husbands move fast when they are excited to go home.  I mean fast.  Leap out of bed, clap their hands, rub them together and say, "Okay, let's get this show on the road!"  I rolled over and put the pillow over my head and gestured for him to go away.  He was way too pumped up for that early in the morning.  Once he turned the light on and started rudely clanking about, I decided to get up.  Somehow I made my way to the bathroom and concluded that I looked like Jabba the Hutt: Puffy eyes that were blood shot from lack of sleep, blotchy face, with a tint of green...probably from the food I ate the night before...and I also couldn't form a coherent sentence...

Twenty minutes later, we were getting into a taxi.  When the driver asked us where we were going, I couldn't remember (not much sleep + no food = backfiring and misfiring of brain cells), so I pulled out my itinerary I had made for us to remind myself that we were going to the airport, but I couldn't remember the word for that, either, so I read off my sheet, "American Airlines," That was all I could muster.  I remember that the taxi cab was outrageously expensive, and vaguely remember going through security.  I actually believed the security guard when he told me that the other line would cost money.  Poor Casey. 

Finally, at 5:00 in the morning, the coffee shops started to open up.  Hallelujah!  We got in line and were about halfway to the register when I saw it.  What I had been waiting for the entire trip!  Au Bon Pain!!! Yes, I realize this is a chain, but we don't have them in Iowa.  At least not where I live! I was sooooooooo excited!  "AU BON PAIN!!!" I screeched!  Those were perhaps my first coherent words of the day.  Casey looked at me and said, "Huh?" he had been hearing about this pretty much the entire trip.  "Au Bon Pain!" I exclaimed again, "Look!" I pointed to the sign. 

"B29", Casey said.

"Oh," I said. "We are in B4...that's a long walk.  Never mind, this is fine," I said. 

Picture an exasperated sigh from Casey, "Okay, give me your crap, let's go," he said, as he put his suitcase on mine and began rolling the suitcases toward B29. 

"Oh you are going to love this!" I exclaimed. Pastries of all sorts, combined with Earl Grey Tea were rolling through my head. Would I choose the reliable Cheese Danish? Or would I veer away from the usual and get something different? Oh the decisions!  I was still trying to make my decision when security came out from all of these nooks and crannies like ants stating, "Everybody FREEZE!!!"  If I had been more coherent, I would have been really scared, but I froze in my tracks and looked at Casey, crossed my arms, sighed, shook my head and said, "All I wanted was a pastry...", resigning myself to the fact that I would probably not get Au Bon Pain on this trip...After about 20 seconds (which seemed like 10 minutes), we were permitted to continue as usual, and we raced to B29. I never found out what the whole FREEZE! situation was about...I was more concerned with the pastry and still in my early morning delerium.  The minutes were ticking away, there was probably going to be a line because Au Bon Pain is awesome and then we had to trek our way back to B4.  As we approached B29, Au Bon Pain was nowhere to be found.  I looked and looked and looked, and we found a sign that did not list Au Bon Pain anywhere on the restaurants or shops.  My heart sunk.  Poor Casey, exasperated, hungry, and getting grouchy, said, "REALLY?!?!?!?!?" The only choice left was to turn around, empty handed, and try to find something else.  I almost started crying.  Almost. But I didn't.  Instead, we got back to the first place we were going to eat at....forty minutes before...Fortunately, they had Cafe Con Leche, my staple drink when I was in Granada, Spain.  Casey wasn't nearly as excited, and I got a Cheese Danish.  It wasn't as good as Au Bon Pain, but it sufficed.  Then, we went to sit down at our gate, only to find that our gate had been switched to Terminal C.  We were in Terminal B.  Casey then let out a long line of swear words.  We rushed to our gate in Terminal C as boarding was scheduled to begin in about 15 minutes.  Rushed, tired, and irritated, we boarded the plane.  In the very back.  And we had less than an hour layover at Dallas Fort Worth.  It made no sense to me, either.  We rushed through the airport to get to our gate.  After we were halfway there, I concluded that we would indeed make it on time, and slowed down.  I was getting tired of the argument  going on between my slingback shoe and my foot as to whether or not my shoe was going to stay on my foot.  Casey, on the other hand, was still in the middle of the Belmont Stakes, and looked like Secretariat pulling away from Sham. 

Well, as I thought more about it, I remembered that Sham made it across the finish line, eventually, so I decided to keep my pace. Several times Casey turned around and looked at me, frustrated, and motioned for me to hurry up.  I did hurry when he was watching, and then when he turned around again I slowed down again.  Oh well. 

Finally, we made it to the gate and Casey said he was thirsty.  I bet he was, after hoofing it like that.  I bet Secretariat was thirsty after the Belmont, too.  Tired, sweaty, and ready to sit down, I volunteered to watch our luggage while he went to get a Mountain Dew.  We were ready to board any moment, so I told him to hurry.  About five minutes later, he came running back, red faced and sweaty.  Curious as to what happened, I opened my mouth to ask him what was wrong and he said, "I found an Au Bon Pain!!! What do you want!?!?!?!?" he asked in between breaths.  I was torn between telling him I wasn't sure if he had enough time to run back to Au Bon Pain, and a pastry...The pastry won over.  "Oh anything is fine.  But I'd really like an Earl Grey tea, too!" I said.  He took off.  And then everyone started to board. Rats. I began to think I was never going to get an Au Bon Pain on this trip.  Just as I hit send on the text message telling him to forget Au Bon Pain, that we were boarding, he came running up with an apple pastry, hot water, a tea bag, and a burned hand.   MY HERO!!!  Out of breath, he said, "You had better drink that whole damn thing because halfway back I realized I forgot your tea and had to go back, shove my way past an old lady, and get your tea!"  And I did.  I drank the entire  thing, ate most of the apple pastry (I had to share it with him after all of that trouble).  I also had to get up and go to the bathroom almost three times on the last airplane ride home. But it was worth it.  Most of all though, I know I am really lucky.  It's not that Casey gets me pretty much whatever I want (within reason) that makes me realize how much he loves me; it's the way he pays attention to the small things, and really goes the extra mile (or miles, if you're speaking literally).  I hope I do the same for him.  Above the pastries, tea, and molten chocolate lava cakes, he makes me feel special.  He is my best friend, who walks with me hand in hand, puts up with my craziness, and makes me laugh every single day.  I wouldn't trade him for the world!  Vacations almost always have their bumpy parts, just like relationships, but I am so happy I get to go through life with him!

Also, when we got home, we were greeted with a happy Guinness, Chickens, Horses, Sam, and a leaky bathroom sink.  I spent part of the evening laying against the bathtub, holding a flashlight, while Casey was halfway underneath the sink...