Are You Coming from the Derby?

Hey, Y'all,
What a day yesterday was! At 12:30 p.m., my neighbors came down to take me to the airport for my flight to Texas. We arrived in plenty of time for the flight with a couple of hours for me to wait for it (which is what I wanted, following the rules for the airlines). When I checked in my luggage, I found I had to pay $25 for the privilege of said check in. Bummer! So I forked over the 25 bucks and proceeded to head for the security with Scott, Laurie, and Olivia walking along with me. Of course, they could only accompany me to a certain place and then I proceeded on.

Yesterday was the first time I have flown since some time before my bypass surgery and pacemaker implant, so I had to go through a gate instead of the doorway with the metal detector. I had to take my toiletries out of my carry on bag, take off my shoes, my hat, my jacket. Toiletries have to be put into a quart size plastic baggie, and cannot contain more than 3 oz. of liquids per bottle. Then I was patted down by a lady guard, had to sit down and hold my feet out so that she could see the bottom of my feet. I told her she could check the callouses on the bottom of my feet if she liked. Ha. I asked if she wanted to see my surgery scars. Ha ha. I'll bet she won't forget me in a hurry.

I was wearing the outfit that I wore to the Festival of Tables on Saturday, so you can look at that picture and see what the other people in the airport and on the planes saw. I had no less than three people ask me if I was coming from the Kentucky Derby (where the ladies all wear fancy looking hats). I told Teresa later that I should have told them that the Derby was absolutely fabulous and they should have seen the horses running and those cute little jockeys in the tight pants sitting up high on the horses. She said, "MOM! That would have been a lie!" and I replied, "No, it would have just made a good story". Well, anyway....

Our plane was on time taking off, and we were making good time, but when we got to the Dallas area, there was bad weather, and we were circling around the city for awhile waiting for directions to land, so we were then diverted to the airport at Tulsa, Oklahoma because there was not enough fuel in the plane to keep circling. We flew (rather the pilot flew us) to Tulsa and we landed and waited til he got orders to return to DFW airport. The airport had to close down until the high winds had moved out of the area so that aircraft could take off and land.

I had a really sweet seatmate and we had a grand old time talking to one another. Her name is Evon, and when I told her I had never seen it spelled that way, she told me the story of how she had been given that name. Her mom had actually named her Yvonne, but it was her dad who went to get the birth certificate filled out, and when they asked him how he wanted the name spelled, he said he reckoned it was "Evon". Her mom was really irritated when she found out how he had spelled it, but they left it that way. Evon said that she had met another lady one time that spelled hers the same way, and it had happened the same way that hers did. Ha. go figure that happening twice with the same name. Ha ha.

Evon had a a Kindle reader with her, and I had my Sony e-reader with me, so that was cool.

By the time that we got back into the air, it was after 7 p.m. (CDST) and of course 8 p.m. on EDST). It had been nearly 5 hours for what should have been a two hour flight. I felt kind of like Gilligan did on their 3 hour tour. Ha.

By the time that my son-in-law and grandson, Andrew, came to get me, it was after 8 p..m. and nearly 9 by the time we got here to Carol and Daryl's. Andrew and Julia had brought their two daughters over to Carol's and so I got to finally meet the two girls. Baby Brooke (who is only about 6 weeks old) was crying a good deal of the time because she is dealing with colic and reflux. Bless her little heart. Alyssa didn't know me, of course, and so I didn't get to hold her but I did get to hold Brooke for a while. They are both beautiful little girls.

It was close to eleven o'clock when I finally got to bed, and it felt sooooooooooooo good to get out of my shoes (I did not wear my new ones, thank God!), but I did wear heels - not high ones- so when I lay down in that bed, it didn't take me long to drift off to sleep. Thank you, Jesus!

So, now you know the story of my flight out to Dallas area. I have a whole week to wait until I have to fly home. Tonight, Grandson Daniel and his family, (wife Whitney, children: Hannah, Austin, Noah, and Ellie) will be here and I will get to see them. Life is good! More later. This is Blabbin' Grammy signing off for now. Much love to each of you, my friends. Bye for now.