The group that went:
Our group~
Me, you know that because I am writing the trip report.
DH (Dear Husband), We needed someone to carry stuff, and eventually earned the title of "Scuba Steve".
DD (Darling Daughter) (17) Commando Nikki, the brat actually had a whistle. She's up hours ahead of everyone and stands around clapping her hands yelling, "Move it people, we have a park to visit!"
DD (14) Beetlebum, just plain happy to be there.
DsD (Darling Step-Daughter) (6) Em, The tree hugger.
DS (Dear Son) (19) Airman, Just a few days of leave, then back to the base.
My brothers group~
DB (Dear Brother), Expert at standing outside shops, holding bags, and WAITING.
SIL (Sister In-law), Blackbelt shop-a-holic.
DsN,(Dear Step-Nephew) I was never introduced to.
I know they where SIL's son and DIL, and that they slept two rooms over from us. We called them "Pig tails" and "Scruffy".
Pigtails never really spoke to us, but I think she may have had some family problems and when scruffy did talk to us, we couldn't understand anything he was saying anyway.
I tried to sleep in as late as I could because I knew I had to work that night, and we had to leave here at three in the morning, but that didn't happen. I was way too excited and I still had a lot of things left to do before I went to work anyway, so I made a phone call to DH and gave him his last minute instructions.
He does none of the planning, but he follows directions very well.
I grabbed a few things and headed off to the bank to cash checks, move money, turn in change, that kind of stuff. I started off down the street and my phone rings.
Not my cell, my cordless from the house. I never hung it back up.
The sad part is, I still didn't realize it until I answered it and got an ear full of loud static.
Then, for some reason I even felt the need to lock my truck while I was in the bank, just in case someone saw my cordless phone, and decided to use it. Yeah, I'm 6 miles away from the base, it could still work.
I continued to have small "stupid attacks" throughout the day. I really needed a vacation.
We did pretty well packing up our 1/4 ton of belongings. The 5 of us, myself, DH, and 3 DDs, (DS met us there) each had a suitcase and a carry on.
Then there was a suitcase with a suitcase in it.
I just couldn't get DH to understand why I was doing that, and was accused of just giving him more stuff to carry or just trying to find a reason to use my luggage rack on my truck.
I admit it, okay, that the luggage rack was one of the first features of my truck that I pointed out to him when I bought it, and I was tickled pink to own a vehicle with one. DH is just funny about driving around with things on your roof. I don't know why?
Its about 100 miles from our place to the airport. I can't ride in a car across town unless I am driving. I freak out thinking about someone else having control over my life for that long. When I was growing up my dad and 4 brothers all drove stock/race cars. They traumatized me. I don't like to fly either, and at the risk of sounding like a commercial, I rely on Xanax.
That’s right folks, Xanax, for those afraid to fly.
I thought I would just drive to the airport, park the truck, pop a Xanax, get on a plane and all would be right in the world. I couldn't have been more mistaken. The minute I saw those huge signs that say "Hey, the airports over here" I had a full blown panic attack. I was trying to stay cool about it, but DH noticed that I went from driving 35 mph to 10 mph. I managed to get a parking spot, but failed to pay attention to where we were parked.
I figured I would never see the truck ever again anyway, because I was about to die, so who can be bothered by these little details?
The first thing I did was take my wonderful little Xanax, (no water, just swallowed that sucker dry) as soon as we stopped moving. Did anyone else know it takes about 20 minutes for those to work? Yeah. 20 minutes. But when it does work....
We got to the security line up. In all honesty, this is what I was really the most nervous about. Once I am on a plane, I am fine. There is something about going through the line up that freaks me out.
So, I hand the nice man my tickets and out ID's and guess who got selected for random search? ME, the one who sets off alarms every time I go somewhere. The reason why my mom makes me sit in the car. OH boy. The rest of my family goes through another line, while I am taken off to the side. The man asked me if I had ever done this and I start to say "I haven't flown since the...."
Are you allowed to say terrorist attack? I know people have been arrested for saying things about bombs, so what happens when you come right out and say terrorist attack?
At this point the Xanax is kicking in, and I began using sign language to represent terrorist attack. No, I can't speak sign, but I can fling my hands around. Nearly poked the guys eye out. That scared me, figuring I am about to be arrested for assault with a finger, so I jam my hands in my pockets.
No, that certainly doesn't look suspicious.
He led me over to a chair and another lady comes over and they remove my shoes. She swings a rod around my foot and is explaining to me that if it goes off she will need to touch my person.
I look right at her and say "Could you kiss me first?"
Yes, ladies and gentlemen, that’s Xanax, for inappropriate responses.
Well, of course, I set off the alarm, that’s what I am good at. I had change in my pocket. I take it out, put it in a little dish, and she continues to swing around her little rod. I continue to set off the alarm. What ever it is, is in the front of my pants. So I have to lift my shirt up to show her what is in front of my pants. I even pulled my pants out to give her a good look, prepared to remove them (Xanax stupor) and she steps back and says "That is not necessary ma’m, its the snap on your jeans." She saved Manchester airport from seeing me in my underwear.
She is a hero.
We gather back together, DH & I need to cigarette. We wonder over to the smoking area, that is really a glass boxed room. Makes you realize what a display item feels like. The girls are directly on the other side of the glass doing silly things like pushing thier faces up against it and what not. They turn around and discover the rows of phones. They start to play "phone call" and we are watching them, when a police officer comes over and starts talking to the 6 yr old. "Oh, officer friendly is saying hello, how nice."
Yeah, till I noticed my other two brats looking around like there’s birds suddenly in the place and slowly walking away.
So I put one hand on DH's shoulder and one foot on his hip and give him a big SHOVE and tell him to go find out what happened. He gets up off the floor and I head over to the other two monsters and asked what happened. She called 911. I asked her why and she said.
"Its the only number I know"
They still let us on the plane and we were off to the world.