Yesterday, I fell asleep at 5 am and woke up wide awake at 7:17.  That should give you enough of an indication of what my day was like.  I was planning on depriving myself of sleep anyway, because I had a flight back home at 5, and I’m somewhat of a nervous flyer even if I like traveling during the holidays.  You see, I’ve found that if I deprive myself of sleep and then take anxiety medication, I am a fantastic flyer, meaning that I am dead to the world.  It was a grueling day.  I was running late, I had problems with two cab companies, I hadn’t eaten a thing that wasn’t coffee and then the kiosk made me go in a line of 30 people to obtain my ticket because the airline spontaneously decided to have another airline fly us out or something, I don’t know.

That wouldn’t have been a problem, but I seem to arrive later and later for my flights every time, and I arrived about 45 minutes before it took off, and that was arriving to the airport (I don’t normally fly in the evening, so it’s not normally so nuts).  The two nice things about that ridiculous wait, though, were that they had a tiny little orchestra performing Christmas songs to soothe the savage beasts (read: travelers) and the girl in front of me reminded me a lot of Jen and even sounded like her; I’m pretty sure she could tell I was stressed and nervous, so she talked to me and helped calm me down.  I really liked her.  I prayed for her last night.  I hope she has a wonderful Christmas in Minneapolis.

Anyway.

So, I finally got through security seventeen minutes before my flight was supposed to leave, and I figured it’d take me about two minutes to get to the terminal, but I had to go through some sort of labyrinthine state to get to the terminal.  No, really.  I swear I had to walk across the state to get to the terminal.  I had to make a turn or two, go down some stairs, across many people movers (love!), go around another turn, up an escalator and then walk half a mile to get there.  I hadn’t eaten, and my body is covered in bruises from the many falls I’ve had this week, and I was sad, because I didn’t have time to go purchase a muffin and coffee or something to get me through the flight.  Then they announced, “The flight, as you know, is delayed…” and I didn’t hear the rest, because I checked the boards, and it was listed as on-time four minutes previously.  Anyway, we boarded at 5:20 instead of 4:45, and had I known that was the case, I could’ve gotten food.  But, since I’m an optimist, it’s ok, because the anxiety medication just worked that much better on an empty stomach and little sleep.

So well, in fact, that I fell asleep immediately.  Bliss!  Then they needed someone to move to the back, and it was a window seat, and that’s great, because I get more nervous if I’m not at a window seat, so I volunteered, because I somehow managed to wake up to hear that.  Elatedness abounds!  So, I settled into that seat and then passed out again.  I slept through takeoff, an accomplishment I am quite proud of.

And then somewhere down the line, we flew through a snowstorm, and the turbulence was horrendous.  I somehow hit my head really hard on the paneling, and that woke me up.  It hurt.  A lot.  I might have uttered a cuss word.  Maybe.  And I might have maybe not so much uttered it as softly yelled it.  And there was definitely not a small child right behind me.  Definitely not.

I was awake after that, but I was in a drug-induced haze, and let me tell you, that made flying at night oddly fun.  I could see all the lights.  The world was a Lite-Brite.  It was like going to see Christmas lights, but better.  It was beautiful.  Even when we went through snowstorms, the sky was beautiful.  You could see the snow and the clouds rushing down across the sky.  The wonderment I felt made me feel like a child again, and it was wonderful.

When I got into Indy, I went to the restroom.  I was in there for all of 50 seconds, so I’m not sure what exactly happened in those 50 seconds, but when I came out, EVERYONE WAS GONE.  It was barren.  There wasn’t a sign to the baggage claim, and there wasn’t anyone around to ask.  I was riding the people movers back and forth, back and forth.  I tripped at the end of the people movers once or twice (PSA: They tell you to slow down at the end for a reason).  I found the END of the terminal, and so I was able to ascertain that I was going in the completely wrong direction.  Surprise!  I called Jessica while I headed the other way, and I rounded some corner somewhere because it seemed like a good idea at the time, and then to my left, I see security!  But there was a glass wall between me and it.  It was like a scene out of a horror movie, but I finally found my way out.

I had received a text from my brother saying that he was waiting, but he wasn’t there.  I quickly realized that he was waiting at the gate on the other side where I’m assuming I should have exited but couldn’t find.  I ran over to him and scared him, because he wasn’t expecting me to come from behind him.  He was holding up a sign that said, “Master and Commander.”  I missed it, because, yeah.  I came from behind.  I hugged him, and we went to the Starbucks to get coffee.

After we got my coffee, we started walking, and then he stopped.  He started talking, saying he wasted time at the Brookstone there.  I’m standing there wondering why we’re standing there and why we aren’t leaving, because the airport has an awesome people mover that has lights above it that are like a rave.  They light up in different colors and patterns and they play music, and it’s just awesome.  I WANTED TO GO PLAY.  But then he vaguely gestured, and I huffed and looked, and then I stilled.

And about 2 seconds after that, I RAN.  Because there was my sister!  Sitting at a bar stool at a table in the middle of the concourse, and there was a little person with her, and I couldn’t even think.  I just ran.  But I don’t run and I’m not graceful and it probably looked like a penguin waddling, but I didn’t even care.  I stopped about a foot in front of her and just stared at Alice.  I just stared and covered my mouth.  There was some unwanted precipitation creeping out of my eyes that I hadn’t given permission to, but I didn’t care.  I just…she was there!  She looked at me with wide eyes for a few seconds, and after I choked out a, “Hi there,” she busted out the biggest smile I’ve ever seen.  I touched her cheek and her little hand and, guys, she is so much prettier in person.  She’s adorable.

And then it didn’t matter that the day hadn’t gone quite so smoothly, because I got to see her and I got to see my sister and I got to see my brother, and the day was perfect.