an interesting end to a good week

So here I am, sitting in the USO of the Baltimore airport. A very unexpected, yet pleasant, visit. I’m stuck here overnight because of apparent bad weather in Memphis. So after a few hours of freaking out (crying, being pissed, waiting in line, getting new tickets, etc) in the airport, I can honestly say I’m ok with this.

Honestly, I’m pretty sure God had something up His sleeve when I got here. The Bag Drop lines were SUPER long and I would’ve missed my first flight. Then I found out my flight was delayed by 2 hours. Yay God. Then I found out that my flight from BWI to Memphis was taking off about 5 minutes before my flight from Memphis to Panama City was to take off. Obviously I was missing that flight.

I did find out some useful information, however. Apparently when there’s a rash of bad weather, airports make it a point to keep some seats on all flights open (until the last possible minute) for any military members whose travel has been interrupted by weather, delays, etc. So the ticketing agent tried her best to get me on a flight that would get me home tonight. But to no avail. The only flights that were flying into Panama City (or any surrounding airports, for that matter) were landing tomorrow morning.

So here I am, sitting in the USO. The man running the snack bar gave me 5 boxes of Girl Scout cookies for free. For FREE! How cool is that? He had to talk me into taking them (yes, Cori, we are set for snacks for the next few weeks)! But I’m glad he did. He convinced me to pack them in my suitcase.

As I’m sitting here (using free wireless courtesy of the USO), more and more people are walking in the double glass doors. We’ll be leaving here for another room, soon, because this USO is under construction. I’ve heard it’s smaller, but it’s still free. And it’s still a safe place to stay for the night.

A Marine and I were conversating and he randomly guessed that I was in the Air Force. He said I fit the Air Force “type”, but he couldn’t explain to me what it was. So, joking around I said, “Nice? Happy?” He didn’t really have an answer, but he said that those were a few reasons. That kind of surprised me. Apparently I’m a good “ambassador” for the Air Force even when I’m not in uniform! Me, a “disruptive presence in the shop”, a good ambassador? I’d love for my Supervision to have heard that. But at least it didn’t fall on deaf ears!

Wow – LOTS of people are walking in now. Hopefully things will quiet down and we’ll all fit in the other room. There are 4 small kids hanging around here with their Mom and older sister. I guess you can figure how quiet it isn’t around here. As I’m typing, their mother is arguing with the nice snack bar man about how her 4 kids under the age of 10 should be able to play the xBox. I guess some people just take the free stuff we get for granted.

All-in-all, it’s been a GREAT week. I loved spending quality time with my nephews. I got to see my nieces. They love me. My nephews love me. I got to spend quality time with my Creation friends (well, most of them). I helped them out two days this week where they work… we were all clean, we didn’t smell, and we were well-rested! It was wonderful!

But I’m so ready to be home. I miss home. I miss my friends there. I miss my bed. I miss my roomie. Yeah, I’m ready to get back. But it’s been a great week off. I’d love to have another one just like it. Soon.