Over the River and Through the Woods

Travel has changed a lot through the years (since early times), and in our family since Emily moved to Colorado, trips to the airport have been much more frequent. Jimmy and I rarely fly…it’s such a pain, but we did a year ago when Emily graduated from nursing school, and turned 30 in the same week or so. It was interesting.

Then, she talked us into joining her in Las Vegas last summer so she and I could go to a Reba McIntire concert, Jimmy could gamble, and Emily’s husband, C.J., could hang out. But I digress.

This was about us going to the Atlanta airport. Interestingly she is about the same distance from the Denver airport as we are from the Atlanta one. Of course, Atlanta is much larger. Anyway, anyone who has had occasion for Jimmy to be their chauffeur to the airport knows he believes in leaving EARLY.

They say arrive two hours before your flight. Check, no cutting corners here. And, we live about an hour away, so you leave one and half or two hours before the flight is scheduled to arrive or depart. (When we’re picking up, we cut it close sometimes, not so when dropping off.) As Jimmy says, you can hang out in the airport and people watch while you wait.

So, we celebrated Christmas early (on Sunday), cause Emily being the new nurse in the Emergency Department (ED) has to work both Christmas eve and Christmas night. (She works nights, so she’ll get off about 7 a.m. the day after Christmas when she plans to celebrate with her husband who wasn’t able to come to Georgia with her last week.)

Back to the trip to the airport.

So, Emily comes here more than we go there. And she flies enough, she thinks she has it all figured out. So, she was leaving Monday to return to Colorado so she could go to work Tuesday night. She told us her flight was at 6 p.m. Well, Jimmy never got involved in the discussion as to when to leave. Emily knows Jimmy. Emily doesn’t want to spend extra time at the airport.

Well, wise Jimmy is driving Emily to the airport Monday. I-75 did not resemble a parking lot, but is sure wasn’t moving very fast. There was a lot of stop and go, and a lot of going 35 or so. So Emily starts calculating when we’ll reach the airport and if she’ll make her flight. She’s even checking other flights to see if she misses can she get on the next one.

Kathy, meanwhile, isn’t particularly concerned cause I learned a long time ago there is no reason to worry about things over which you have no control. And, I had a feeling she’d make it; it was just going to be close.

Long story short, we finally got to the airport; Emily jumped out of the truck and raced into the airport. She called us shortly after 5 p.m., before we got real far from the airport and let us know she was through security. We said to call when she got to the gate but she didn’t. However, I’m certain she got on the plane, and am calmly awaiting the text or call saying she has landed.

Non-worrying Kathy will feel better when she gets that message, but I’m not really concerned. I would have heard from her if she had not gotten on the plane.

However, on the way home, Jimmy said see if you leave a little early, it’s okay if you hit traffic, etc.

I said, I know, I know. I said it was her choice to cut it close. Now mind you, since she said she wanted to leave at 3 p.m., I worked until 2:45. However, she was in no hurry when I got home to get her. If I’d been home at 2:30 p.m., I doubt I could have dragged her out before the time we left. Hmm.

So, just know, if Jimmy is taking you to the airport, and has anything whatsoever to do with it, you will leave early. I’ve argued about how early before, but I have to agree, it’s a whole lot better to be safe than sorry. And traffic between here and there frequently is awful.

We came home backroads. It was so much better. When I listened to the traffic report when I returned to work about 7, it said I-75 was finally clearing. We made it!