Wednesday March 20, 2024
I woke up at 4 AM with both of my hands asleep and tingling. It took a while to get them to “wake up”. I thought B12 was fixing the issue of my hands going to sleep at night but it didn’t. I ruled our carpal tunnel because my pinky finger also falls asleep and everything I read says that if your pinky finger is effected then it’s not carpal tunnel. So maybe it’s tendinitis from cleaning so much. Maybe I need to change careers. The answer will come.
I laid in bed meditating and praying:
- I am grateful for beds. Thank you for a comfortable place to sleep.
- I am grateful for fruit. Thank you for food that makes me thrive.
- I am grateful for airplanes. Thank you for an efficient way to travel.
I got up and stripped the bedding off my bed and started it in the wash. I put clean bedding on, let out the chickens and geese but not the ducks and went into the house. In the house, I greeted Christopher made tea and smoothies, and fed the dogs. I got Angel up, she ate breakfast, we finished packing and I loaded our luggage in the truck. Right before I left to head to town all three of us got the ducks out of their coop and put them into their pen. Angel went inside the coop and handed out one duck at a time. Christopher held the flashlight and kept the door shut. I would take each duck Angel handed out and put it in the new pen Christopher had set up last night. It was fun cooperating to get the job done. I love doing projects where we all cooperate together. Now, with the ducks secured in their pen, Christopher would not have to chase them in every night by himself.
Angel and I gave Christopher a hug and a kiss. I told him we would see him next week and we headed to town. I had a house to clean that morning, then I would pick up Ms. M and we would go to Story Time at the library. After that, we would deliver half of my newspaper route, drop off Ms. M and drive to Austin to catch a plane to Salt Lake City, Utah. Little Bit was going with us. The weather in Utah would be in the 50s and 60s the first couple days and then it would drop into the 40s the last few days we were there. Angel was hoping to get to play in some snow but right now the snow is all melted and it doesn’t look like there will be any fresh snow before we leave. Maybe we will have time to go on an adventure up in the mountains and let Angel play in the snow for a while.
Angel did her schoolwork while I cleaned. She did a great job and is really getting into doing phonics. I am glad she is finally showing an interest in learning to read better. We picked up Ms. M and went to Story Time at the library. Angel had a great time at the library and one of the 16 year old twin girls who lead Story Time, taught her a hand clapping game after the stories had been read. After Story Time, we had some free time before the papers were going to arrive. I went through the car wash before heading to the Rockdale Reporter. As I pulled up, the papers were just being unloaded from the truck. I briefly talked to Kyle Cooke to make sure we were on the same page in splitting the route in half. I was very grateful that he was doing half of the route so I could leave on time to catch my plane in Austin.
As I was getting ready to leave to deliver the newspapers, Ms. M’s husband came up to the truck and said that he could take her now because they were going out to lunch with his daughters, in-laws who were in town visiting. I was grateful he was getting her from me early because it would make things easier if I happened to be running late. As it happened I got finished earlier than I expected. It had been strange doing only half of the route, it went by so quickly. When I finished, I turned in my money at the Rockdale Reporter and there were several ladies I knew that were there having lunch together. I had a few minutes before I had to leave and enjoyed chatting with them. I love people so much.
I left the reporter and we headed to the airport in Austin. Our “vacation“ had officially started. The drive to Austin was uneventful. I drank my 2nd smoothie on the drive, I had drank my first smoothie already that morning. Traffic was good and everything went as planned. Right before we got to the airport, I stopped at a gas station to filled up my tank and put my empty smoothie jars in the suitcase so I could have them with me in Utah. We used the bathroom and took Bits on a short walk on his leash so he could use the bathroom. It would be a long time before he would get to use the bathroom again. With the 2 hours we would arrive before our flight and the 2 1/2 hours on the airplane to Denver where we had a 2 hour layover. 2 more hours on the airplane to Salt Lake City and the time it would take us to get our luggage, get picked up by my son Scott and go to his house. Bits would go about 9 hours without being able to use the bathroom. Airports have doggy bathrooms in them but Bits refuses to use them. He will not go to the bathroom inside. He knows that outside is where he’s supposed to use the bathroom.
We arrived at our parking garage and a shuttle was there to take us to the airport right away. At the airport I could not find the frontier airline check-in area. I asked the man at the information booth and he said that frontier was at the south terminal and told us where to wait for the shuttle. We had plenty of time and I was not concerned about getting there on time. We waited for the shuttle for a long time and it didn’t show up. There was another man standing there waiting for the shuttle and he was going on the same flight we were. He called the number on the sign and they said the shuttle would be there in about 15 minutes. That would be cutting us close to being able to check in our bag. We had to check our bag in an hour before our flight, but if all went well we would still have time to do that. The shuttle arrived and we got on along with a few other people. The shuttle driver said we would need to wait there another 15 minutes to make sure no one else needed a ride over to the south terminal. It was a 15 minute drive to the south terminal and I wasn’t sure we would make it on time. There were several other people on the shuttle going on the same flight we were. We were all feeling pretty stressed out about the situation. The shuttle finally left and we arrived at the south terminal 3 minutes before the check-in counter would be closed and we would not be able to check in our luggage. All of us that were on the same flight ran to the kiosks to print out our tags. The kiosk told me that I would have to talk to an agent at the front desk. I got in line and was two people away from the front desk. There was only one lady there to check in bags. The lady announced that she would be there for one more minute and she recommended we get our luggage tags from the kiosks. I said that the kiosk told me that I needed to see an agent at the front desk. She said that I could come forward and I was able to check in my bag. Extremely relieved, we got in line for security and made it to our gate just as they starting to load the plane. I like to get on the plane last so we had a few minutes to use the bathroom again and sit down and relax. My body had been super tense when I thought we weren’t going to make it on time and I could feel the tension in my back and shoulders.
I slept almost the entire flight to Denver. The plane was only half full, so we were able to stretch out and had three seats to ourselves. Angel was happy because she was able to get a window seat. She looked out the window and played on her leap pad while I slept. When we arrived at the Denver airport, the first thing we did was find our next gate. Then we went in search of food. There were a lot of fast food restaurants nearby, but I was looking for a sit down restaurant where I could order a nice big salad. It was super crowded and there were a lot of people walking around. I found a directory and saw that there was one sit down restaurant nearby. We walked to where I thought the directory had told us it was at, but it wasn’t there. We walked around for a while looking for it before I went back to the directory to see if maybe I had read it wrong. While looking at the directory the 2nd time, I realized that we had to go upstairs to get to the restaurant. There was an elevator close to us and when the doors opened to the upstairs, it was like we were in a whole different world. It was quiet and there were plush chairs around that you could sit in. Gentle music was playing and there were hardly any people there. I told Angel that we just found the jackpot. This was the place to be during a layover at the Denver airport. When we fly back we will head straight there and chillax in between flights.
We were seated at the restaurant and I ordered a big cob salad without the meat. The salad wasn’t that great, but I didn’t care. I was just grateful for a nice quiet place to hang out until our flight was about to leave. After we ate we walked around upstairs, riding the moving sidewalks and in most of the hallways we were the only ones there. It was blissful and I waited until I knew that our plane was going to start loading before going back downstairs to our gate.
On most of the second flight in to Salt Lake City, I sat with my eyes closed. This flight was very crowded and very noisy and I was super grateful that the baby thst was screaming was far away from where we were seated. I was glad I was not the parent that was having to deal with that situation. I’ve been on airplanes with Angel when she was a baby and was screaming. Thankfully, she never cried for long and was easily soothed with breast-feeding. We landed in Salt Lake City around 9:30 PM which is 10:30 PM Texas time. I was feeling really tired by then and was pretty much over the whole flying experience. It seem like we walked miles and miles, with Angel running around super hyper and overstimulated and not listening and not staying with me, before we made it to our baggage carousel. Then we waited a while before the baggage carousel started moving and eventually we got our bag. We headed straight outside to wait for my son Scott to pick us up. He had been waiting in the cell phone parking lot and it didn’t take him long to arrive. He lives about 10 minutes away from the airport and the drive to his house was short. As soon as we got there, I let Little Bit out and he went to the bathroom right away. He had made it the whole time without having an accident. At the Denver airport. I had taken him into the doggy bathroom, but as usual he wanted nothing to do with it. Scott helped us bring our things inside. Angel was still overstimulated and running around and not listening. I just wanted to go to bed, we said our good nights and I managed to get Angel to go to bed. We fell asleep at around 11 PM, which would be 12 PM Texas time, listening to a Bobbsey Twins audiobook.
Thank you for reading my blog, and being a part of my life. I dearly appreciate you.
Love,
Victoria
P. S. This blog post was inspired by the Holy Spirit.