My Christmas Miracle

9:00 am, EST - My mother's plane from Portland International Airport (hereinafter "PDX") to Logan International Airport (hereinafter "BOS") was supposed to be arriving from Anchorage, AK  but got rerouted to wait in Seattle while PDX dealt with the runways so the plane could land there and then take its passengers to BOS.  We retain hope.  They're supposed to be on the plane by 8:30 am, PST, which would be 11:30 am, EST.

12:00 pm, EST - I'm about to head to lunch and haven't received the call I was waiting all morning for, telling me that they were getting on the plane.  I call my mom, she says the plane is still in Seattle and they're still working on the runways at PDX.  I get a little worried because she sounds worried and try to not cry into my chili at lunch since I'm in public and don't cry in front of people.  I get back to work at 12:30 and proceed to cry through the first hour of my afternoon alone in my office while begging whatever universal force is out there (the only way an Agnostic can pray) to just send her here.  I tell this universal force, again and again, that all I want is to be with my mom on Christmas, I could care less about the other shit.

1:30 pm, EST - I clean myself up because I have to go to a meeting with some attorneys at work.  I'm antsy through the whole meeting but still gave some rather useful input for the case we were dealing with, it was a nice break to think about something else and give my input in an important meeting and have the other attorneys say, "oh, yes, that's right, thank you."

3:10 pm, EST - I return to my office and there's a message from my mom telling me they finally started snowplowing the runways (what they were doing for the last 6 hours I'll never know) and they're supposed to be boarding by 12:30 pm PST (3:30 pm, EST, so basically 20 minutes after this call, so I'm figuring by 1 at this point).

6:15 pm, EST - I get home and find that I'd missed a call from my mom about 5 minutes before so I call her back and she tells me the plane is there and all they have to do is get the people off the plane (I'm assuming these are the people from Anchorage who waited in Seattle all day) and then they'll board and they'll be on the way to BOS.

6:45 pm, EST - My world crashes around me when I get another call from my mom telling me the flight was canceled.  I'm sobbing so hard I can't even understand what she's telling me when she's explaining why, eventually I discern that they apparently don't have a crew for the plane.  She says she's in the rebooking line, she'll tell me when she gets rebooked, and asks me to check online to see if I can find anything in the next couple days.  After I hang up, I'm sobbing so hard on my way up the stairs to my room that I sink to the floor about halfway up, hanging on the banister and screaming at the sky that all I wanted was to have my mom here for Christmas.  Eventually I get upstairs and get my computer and bring it back downstairs, sobbing the whole time, and sign on and try to check Alaska Air's website to see if I can find out any more information.  I talk with my friend Amanda and tell her they canceled the flight and Amanda assures me they will do something to get her here because the airlines try really hard around Christmas.  I try to be reassured by this and the sobbing at least reduces to just general crying.

7:05 pm, EST - My mom calls again.  I assume it's to tell me the rebooking information.  She sounds so excited when I pick up the phone I can barely tell what she's trying to say.  I finally understand that they reinstated the flight, that they talked the crew (or a crew, it's hard to tell) into flying the plane and that they're getting on the plane and she'll be here soon.  "Soon" meaning in about 5 hours because that's how long it takes to fly from PDX to BOS.  I start crying with relief and we hang up, with the assurance that she will not have to call me again until she is in Boston.  I tell Amanda it's all better.  I continue to cry, now with relief and utter joy, for the next 20 minutes or so.

I've dubbed this chain of events, mostly the moment at 7:05 pm, my own personal Christmas miracle.

I'm now going to calm down with some wine and get a bit of sleep while I wait for the call telling me she's here.

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