Next year I'm paying the money to fly direct...

Take 1:

Pack Saturday, run errands like crazy, get to the airport in just enough time to catch my flight.  Check in, get to the gate, watch my flight time get pushed back further and further.  Realize I won't catch my connection in Dallas, discover it's the last flight out of the night.  Rebook my flight for the following day.  Go home and watch BYU football.  Buy a new toothbrush at CVS. Sleepover at Katie's.

Take 2:

Sunday: Get ready for church without any of my toiletries since they are all on their way to San Diego (quite the adventure).  Go to church.  Find a ride to the airport.  Move my luggage to driver's car.  Discover a voicemail on my phone.  Flight has been cancelled due to mechanical failure.  Awesome.  Reschedule flight for the following morning.

Take 3:

Still Sunday: Call Jay to get online and see if there were in fact no flights left for that night. Discover I've been hoodwinked by the airlines.  Katie calls the airline while I'm on the phone with Jay demanding they put me on one of those available flights.   I call my dad to tell him what's going on.  Shed my first tear of the saga.  Aaron offers his handkerchief and a shoulder.  After an hour, we get my flight changed to go out of BWI, leaving in just a couple of hours.  Move my luggage again to the new driver's car.  Have an uneventful drive up.  

Take 3 continued: Get to Dallas.  Have way too much time to think.  Discover when I get there that we will be delayed another 3 hours due to flight crew time-outs.  So tired and so frustrated, with a nearly-dead phone battery due to the rescheduling drama earlier in the day (and having stupidly checked my phone charger), I sit in the Dallas airport and try not to cry.  Miraculously there is a plug nearby that isn't being used, so I plug in my computer and watch a movie.  The moment I get on the plane (2 a.m. DC time) I immediately fall asleep and don't wake up until we are approaching San Diego.  I thank my lucky stars I decided to pack my neck pillow.

We land at 2:15 a.m., San Diego time.  I'm pretty much delirious at this point, stumble down to baggage claim, call my mom (who stayed up waiting for my phone call), get both my bags immediately (miracles of miracles) and get into the car.  Brian had come along (thanks little brother) to help with my bags, and no one asked that I be particularly chatty.  I step on Tom as I try to get ready for bed, which really just consists of me putting on my pajamas and falling into bed.  

The End: I'm sitting in my living room with a fuzzy mouth, smelling my dad making breakfast, listening to Tom play the spinning song and Brian running through the living room like a ballerina (sort of...I'd have to post video for you to really understand). Oh dear, now he's shimmying.  Okay, I have to go.  Time for showers, breakfast and then we're off to Fry's!