WHEW! I knew it would be a while until we heard from Ryan. I knew they were going to have a tough time making the new connection in Rome to Athens. And, this whole time change thing ... nuts!
Okay, I'm not a stalker, but I am a mom. And, given that I am a mom, I do have inalienable rights to worry, sometimes even obsessively. I can feel the stress rising in my esophagus. So, I found the time change converter on line and downloaded that. Then, I found the Alitalia website and tracked her Alitalia flight from JFK into Rome. The only way they made the connecting flight was if they were gold medal sprinters and someone held the plane for them.
I take a deep breath. Then, I take another one. Okay, so we talked about this at JFK. What happens if you miss the connection? Who do you call? Who do you talk to? Thank God I am crazy busy at work and people keep interupting my obsession to get work done!
I incessently check email. Please tell me this Ipod Touch thing works. We bought the service so she could have access to email in the airports and other hotspots. We went over how to work it. I even gave her the "don't give up and don't accept NO speech!" (If you know something should work, don't give up, keep fighting with it unitl you make it work)
Still no email. I work late trying to keep my head above water there. I hit the grocery store on my way home. Patch is at a drum lesson. Brian's at his mom's. I put in a load of laundry. I hear the phone ring. Shoot, we still don't know how to work this digital voice thing with Comcast. (#@%$#@). I run upstairs and miss the call. I check my cell phone - no calls and no email. Phone rings again. Don't recognize the number. I answer it anyway and the sweetest, most delicate little voice is on the other end.
"Mom?' "Yes." "It's me. I'm here. I did it. We made it!" Yes, I cried (please refer to mom rights noted above). It turns out they did miss their connection in Rome and were delayed another five hours before catching their flight to Athens. They got in at 1:00 in the morning their time and she borrowed a phone to call me at 3:00 a.m. their time.
She sounded exhilirated. It reminded me of when she was little. She was the only kid in the crowd who couldn't swing by herself. She didn't want to be pushed anymore. She worked for hours and hours and finally she jumped off that swing mid-flight screaming, "Mom! I did it. I made it work!"
You go girl!
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