My phone is missing, which I realize the evening
before we fly home. Thank the Lord it didn't happen the next morning.
We look high and low Tuesday night, examine the
last pictures sent from the phone, and deduce that it must be in the house. But
where? We look through our luggage, bags, the furniture, our clothes... nada.
After looking under the LR sofa several times, W tracks the phone down inside
the arm of the loveseat. We sleep easier after that.
We have a nice final breakfast in Switzerland, a
quiet drive to the airport, and find out we've relaxed too soon. The first
flight to Amsterdam is delayed from 11:50 to 2:20. That means we miss the
connection to Minneapolis and get rerouted the other way around the world. It's
a 22 hour trip via Beijing to Seattle. A 9+ hour flight; a 2 hour layover, then
an 11 hour flight. We expect to land in Seattle about 8am on Christmas Day
instead of 9pm Christmas Eve.
Our seats on the first flight are very stinky
economy comfort seats, with luxurious leg room a few feet from 4 bathroom doors
opening and closing. I hold my fleece blanket over my face to tolerate the
smell. It becomes Christmas Day while we’re in the air.
The Wifi doesn't work in Beijing so we don't
know if anyone will be waiting for us in Seattle when we get home. After the
first flight, I'm too tired to care. W gets an upgrade to business class
(sleeper) for the second flight. What a fine Christmas present from his
priority status. (Usually they upgrade me on his itinerary, but not
this time, though there are empty sleepers available. I'm stuck in coach, having lost my economy comfort seat altogether.)
I've stayed up the first flight to be able to
sleep on the second. I know it's bad news when W says he'll ask the flight
attendants if we can swap seats partway. Of course they say no. I doze a bit
but between seat kicks and garlic breath behind me, but I'm up most of the 11
hours. Hoping our luggage arrives with us. By the time we get home,
I'll have been up over 27 hours, most strapped to an ill-fitting chair. Yes,
I'm whining during this 8th hour of the second flight.
Can't wait for a quick shower and lying flat for
a nap once we hit home. I'm cooking turkey, stuffing, and gravy for 20 -
in a kitchen not my own. Shlepping spices and dishes upstairs ... sigh. The
family is pitching in for the other parts of the menu.
Not every plan goes well, and it may not be the
way I'd hoped to arrive at our last Seattle Christmas. I'm tired enough
that it may barely stick in my memory. Fortunately W can remind we what
happened in years to come. HAHA
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I write when I get home, but there's a system glitch on our house computer that wipes out a much nicer (later) version of the blog, including photos. Oh well. Gone. Not in the mood to redo it all.
We arrived home by 8:30 am Christmas Day and I tried to nap. Nope. Couldn't sleep so got up, made the turkey, etc. and had a nice time with family and friends. W crashed at 7pm, I went to bed about 9pm after finishing cleanup - up 48 hours with the dozing on the second flight getting me through. The kids come down with fresh scones for breakfast. Wonderful! after a good night's sleep. Everyone else got home safely last night, too. Thanks be to God.
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