Mishap

It is that time of year again…time for our brave hero, Tristan to travel over yonder land to the City of Brotherly Love, which is Philadelphia.  As always, I am keeping our family of five on track (not an easy to task) so that we can arrive on time to DTW.  

As you are all aware, I am very astute in my planning and always ensure that we arrive within the required “two hour before your flight” timeframe of the TSA.  Well, until today….  I must admit (and this is hard for me) that I might have read the arrival time in Philly, instead of the departure time in Detroit on our confirmation.  Um….yes, you read that correctly, WE MISSED OUR FLIGHT!  I did not realize this mistake until I attempted to check my bag at the kiosk and received an error that it was too late to check my bag for the flight.  “What?!!!” So, I stomp over to the customer service desk and Bernadette explains that we have indeed missed our flight.  (INSERT: blood pressure rise here.)

I look out of the corner of my eye to see Becky’s face go pale.  Considering that we were flying on donated sky miles from Children’s Miracle Network, I begin to feel a drip of sweat on my brow.  The thought crosses my mind that this Christmas we might be spending $3000 on airfare because of my…well, we’ll call it “mishap.”  

Becky attempts to woo Miss Bernadette in desperation as she pleads with her for assistance. “Oh, no! Our son is going for surgery and these were donated miles for our family to get there.”  The desperation is clear and it is more than clear to onlookers that “this guy messed up.”  

Bernadette begins looking at options only to find that the next flight to Philly is booked solid.  (INSERT: blood pressure rising higher here.)  Perhaps, Newark is an option? No.  Wait.  No.  Wait, there is a late Philly flight, but Bernadette has to call the “powers that be.”  I wait with a strange liquid filling my eyes, clearly brought on by my now sense of panic.  My wife (who I do tend to give a hard time in this blog) calmly walks over to me, hugs me and says, “Things happen for a reason.”  I look at her, unable to speak, how can she be so calm at a time like this?!  She goes back to managing the kids, as Bernadette waits on the powers that be to decide our fate. 

After what seems an eternity Bernadette thanks the person on the other line of her phone and hangs up.  She consults with the other customer service representative next to her and assures me that she can help get us on the 8:15pm flight…with NO service charge.  Praise the Lord and a huge thank-you to Bernadette and Delta Airlines.  She begins to work her magic behind the desk.  After the final boarding passes are printed and my blood pressure begins to lower slightly, I hear the kids and Becky ushering huge thanks and assuring Bernadette that she has “saved the day.”  I have to roll my eyes as Becky asks Bernadette for a quick photo op with her and the kids.  (Gotta love that wife of mine!)

Now, we sit at Detroit Metro and await the arrival of our plane.  We should arrive in Philly around 10pm, we’ll need to grab the luggage, get on the train and manage the streets of downtown Philly to get to the hotel.  However, after the start of this trip, the rest should be a cake walk.