pyroguysr's Diaryland Diary ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- On This Day in 1989 Tonight, at this hour (11:27pm), 16 years ago, I flew into Midway Airport with my then 8 yr old son on Southwest Air. We were coming in from San Diego to begin our move back to Indiana. We flew from San Diego up to Salt Lake City for a connecting flight. I thought we'd been confirmed all the way through, so Chris and I went to get something to eat. We played a couple video games and then sauntered back to Southwest's booth with 20 minutes to spare only to find our seats had been given away. It seems we should have confirmed immediately after getting off the other flight. We didn't panic though, and the girls behind the counter were very very helpful. They finally got us a flight... just not a direct one. It flew us to Cleveland, then to Newark, then down to Nashville, then over to Memphis, then up to Chicago. As we approached Chicago, my son, who had only seen snow once before, asked me if there would be snow on the ground. "Not this early in December, Chris. It doesn't normally snow this early." "What's that, then, dad?" Big, honkin' clumps of snow were coming down in the bright landing lights of our craft. By the time the pilot wrestled the jet into the terminal, we had a foot of snow on the ground. Chris was ecstatic! My cousin, Eric (the guy that does the Phil Collins impersonations as well as Massage Therapy), picked us up at the airport and drove us to my parents' house. The next morning, Dad had ploughed the driveway and there was a huge mound out behind the house. "Where's Chris?" I asked. Mom told me he was out playing in the snow. I went out there and, sure enough, he was playing in the snow like it was sand on a beach... and he was in a light jacket, a sweater and tennis shoes. He'd been out there for four hours already. "Aren't you cold?" I asked. "Yeah, but this is fun!" He came in two hours later. Mom and dad promptly took us to Burlington Coat Factory and bought him shoes, a winter coat and some galoshes. You know... you Brits/Aussies call them "rubbers" as if they were made to have sex in them... (then again, I know some people...but I digress). Well, I really dislike cold weather, I find snow interesting for about 20 minutes after the snowfall, when everything is pristine and all sounds are muted. Then the snowplough comes and ruins everything. Chris is still up there, playing in the snow and living in an area where they get what's called "Lake Effect" snow... so he got hammered. 14" or something like that. On the anniversary of his moving back to Indiana. I miss that part of my life. I don't like the Christmas season... partially because it's so commercialized but mainly because there is so much stress at this time of the year. I seem to absorb stress by osmosis. My stomach is bothering me, my post-nasal drip is nagging at me and I can't stand listening to the rock stations play all the contemporary attempts at the old standards of Christmas songs (or worse, trying to foist new "holiday" songs on us that do nothing but sound contrived. I mean, I do NOT consider Nine Inch Nails or Metallica to be bands that should do Christmas songs, I'm sorry). So I will go to my writers group holiday party and enjoy myself with the only real friends I have here. Well, nothing else to say. I probably need a few addresses for cards. Yeah, I'm actually going to send some out this year. For three years in Indiana when I was bummed out, I bought cards with the intent on sending them out... never did. Left the cards there, too. Oh yeah... the girls at Southwest Air in Salt Lake City that helped Chris and I get a new flight? I wrote a commendation letter to Southwest about them. I saw one of them about two years later. She remembered my last name and asked if I wrote the letter. It got her promoted and she thanked me. Somehow word got to the cockpit and I couldn't pay for any drinks. *smiles* 11:27 p.m. - 2005-12-09 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
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