I couldn’t sleep last night. I kept waking up, thinking about all the things I needed to get done before my month-long trip to Korea. Then there’s the two month road trip after that. And on top of everything, I decided to go to Oklahoma this week! Ack!! STRESS. How is it that I always end up overloading myself??? I guess the better question is WHY?
I ended up snagging a pen and furiously scribbling down a list before I forgot anything. Unfortunately, I didn’t turn on the light since Matt was sleeping so I ended up with an incredibly illegible list. *grin* It was only afterward that it occurred to me that I could’ve just camped out in the bathroom. Gah… *shakes head in disgust* But I was finally tired and was not about to get out of bed to rewrite my list.
The morning was a blur. I kept thinking I needed to get going because I still had to pack and I had left a load of laundry in the washing machine before going to Bob and Jeanie’s this weekend but I was so TIRED. Then, picture this:
***Disclaimer: This may not be the exact sequence of events nor can I promise that the following dialogue is accurate. This is a general impression of what I think happened. I was half asleep, after all!***
Lights up
(JEN is gracelessly sprawled out on the bed with the blankets heaped on top of her, possibly snoring. MATT enters stage left, wide awake with a spring in his step…obviously a morning person.)
MATT
Hey!
(Leans down for a kiss)
JEN
Good morning.
(Opens one eye blearily)
MATT
I love you. Hope you have a safe flight and a good trip.
JEN
I love you too. Have a good day at work. I’ll miss you.
(Starts to fall back asleep)
MATT
I’ll miss you too.
(Pauses and then laughs)
Don’t forget to watch out for the plane food. You know it’ll stop you up!
(Walks toward the door and exit stage right.)
Lights down
End scene
Wait…
WHAT?!?
Did I miss something? Ultimate weirdness. No wonder I love him. Anyway, back to whatever I was talking about before… Oh yes, I had to go home and pack. Eh, not terribly exciting. The only great sadness was I wanted pho for lunch but by the time I had showered and gotten it together enough to leave the house, I had run out of time. *cries* So Mom and I stopped by BK for lunch. And then I was whisked off to the airport and dumped unceremoniously in the Northwest Airlines sector with a ton of luggage. Intended length of my trip: 5 days. (Four, if you take into account my arrival time on Monday is close to 11pm.)
I guess I should explain at this point WHY I’m going to Oklahoma in case y’all were scratching your heads in collective bewilderment. My mom’s older sister lives there with her family. So there’s Emo, Uncle Hershel, Sonjia and Brandon.
Sonjia has a little girl who is now two. I haven’t seen Ashley since she was six months old. In the meanwhile, Brandon and his girlfriend (whose name is also Ashley just to make things more confusing) had a baby as well. Jaxon is over a year old and I have only seen pictures of him. I figured it might be a good thing to see them while they’re still babies because they’re so cute! I have found that the actual memory of their cuteness makes it a lot easier to put up with them once they hit adolescence and you want to strangle them. Ok, ok. I need to get back to the story at hand.
So, the whole liquid/gel issue that the TSA has been enforcing is probably a good idea as far as homeland security is concerned. But it’s still a pain in the butt since I have to check luggage even if I only packed one bag due to the toiletries and makeup I need to take with me. Although in this case, I would have had to check my luggage anyway since my dear mother randomly produced a huge bag to take to Emo. Apparently my aunt has some urgent need of a bean sprout grower. Don’t ask me what it is. I have no idea. It was already packed up in the bag along with the neck brace she had left at our house back in November. (No. Her neck was not injured in any way, shape or form. It’s a long story. Besides, it only goes to show how decidedly ODD my family is…)
The majority of the flight was spent on my laptop *happy dance because I love my laptop!!* and reading one of my favorite stories ever (Mister God, This is Anna). Ok, so I was only on my computer until its limited life span gave out. I should really get a better battery for this thing. My layover was in Minneapolis. I thought that an hour would be plenty of time. But they never fail to mention that your flight may get in a few minutes late and that you have to trek across the entire length of the airport to get to your other flight just as it’s boarding. If you have to run on the moving sidewalks, your layover isn’t long enough.
The second flight was uneventful and I landed in Tulsa two hours later. I found Sonjia at the baggage claim without too much hassle except she kept claiming the hoodie she was wearing was ORANGE. I think she must be colorblind because the darn thing is PINK. We chatted on the hour drive to Muskogee. Now, I know each state has its share of cities with weird names but we passed a sign for Coweta. COW-ETA? As in ‘I am an eater of beef’??? Goodness…
Sonjia got us as far as the neighborhood before she nearly KILLED us. We were driving to her parents’ house when she decided to point out the new house her parents were moving into a few blocks down and just about drove off the road into someone’s lawn!! Why are we blessed with so many awful drivers among our blood relations? And the whole business about the houses is strange as well. It seems everyone had a house at one point or still has one? But due to circumstances, even with the surplus of houses, everyone is living out of one or two of them?? Ah, the insanity that is my family. Welcome to Oklahoma. *grin*
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