Close Call

Today has been a zoo. Well, I guess I should say this morning was an absolute mad house. Ryan had a flight down to Baton Rouge which left the Omaha airport at 5:45am. This is a much smaller airport than what we are used to in the Twin Cities. Ryan had everything packed and ready to go last night. All we had to do this morning was grab his bags and his suit {which is in one of the suit bags} and head out the door. Our alarm was set for 3:50am which would give Ryan time to get up and shower. Our goal was to leave the house no later than 4:15am. The alarm went off as scheduled. Ryan looked at his phone and realized that the charger had gotten bumped {probably by one of our cats} and therefore wasn't really pulled in so his phone was almost dead. He plugged it back in, jumped in the shower and we were out the door by 4:14 - right on schedule.

We got to the airport, unloaded Ryan's things, I gave him a big hug and kiss and wished him luck before getting in the car and heading home. I've been a little under the weather with a head cold this week, so I was really excited to get home and sleep. I had my alarm set for 6:30 as I had to be to orientation this morning at 8:00. I got home shortly before 5:00, blew my nose, got under the sheets and I received a text message from Ryan which said "feels like the walk to purgatory." {Ryan has had a terrible experience with his graduate program and has not been looking forward to heading back to Baton Rouge} I was in the middle of texting him back, I got to ":( sorry hun. It will all be over soon and regardless of the outcome (although I know you are going..." my cellphone rang and it was Ryan.

Ryan: Are you at home?
Me: yeah, just got here.
Ryan: We forgot my suit!
Me: oh my gosh!
Ryan: It's hanging on the closet door
{Hanging on the closet door which is right by where we put his packed suitcases so we wouldn't forget it in the morning!}
Me: Oh my gosh! I'm on my way!!

I grabbed his suit, grabbed my cellphone, put my shoes on {only half way}, ran to the garage, jumped in the car, quickly as possible put the airport into the GPS as I had no idea how to get there and booked it back to the airport.

It takes 15-20 minutes to get to the airport from our house and as I pulled out of the driveway it was 5:03 and Ryan's flight was leaving at 5:45am....O-M-G! Ryan called me again on my way. I told him I was on the interstate and would be there in 15 minutes. Then we started planning the logistics of the suit swap. Ryan told me that the line for security was really long {he was only half way through when he realized what we forgot} and that if he got out of line to come to the drop-off curb, there would be no way he'd make it back through security and to his flight on time. {Of course the morning Ryan is flying out the airport is super busy as the College World Series just ended last night and everyone was on their way home as well.} Oh crap! Oh crap! Ryan asked if I could park and run it up to him in line. I told him, "Ryan, I can't park my car at the drop-off curb and run up the escalators to find you in the security line. Are you nuts! They're sticklers about people parking out there. There is no parking at airport drop-off curbs." Then I told him maybe I could park in the ramp quick and run to the security line. Oh crap! I forgot to grab my wallet on the way out the door! I only grabbed my cell phone. We were stressing - big time! Oh, and Ryan's cellphone was running really low on battery. Ryan then told me that he was going to go talk to security and see what he could work out so he could still make his flight. He called back in a couple of minutes, I was now {according to GPS} 10 minutes out from the airport. Ryan went and talked to the police officer who was monitoring the curbside drop-off. He told him the situation, about the suit and about the long security line and the police officer gave us permission to park the car at curbside drop-off so Ryan could get back in line and I could run the suit up to him! I just had to park in front of the United drop-off point.

I go buzzing into the airport in panic mode. I see the United sign up ahead, I get there, pull up to the curb and I see the police officer. He popped his head out of his little monitoring station and said "Are you going to run up and give him his coat?" {Ryan had informed him what car I'd be driving so he was expecting me.} "Yeah, I am." "Do you know how to get to security?" "Yeah, I'm on the phone with my husband right now. Thanks." So I leave our car at the curb, go inside, ride the escalators up a floor {because there were 7 people right in front of me so I couldn't run up them}, find the security line {oh crap! There's a lot of people here!}, "Ryan where are you, there are tons of people here," I find Ryan in the sea of bodies and pass off the suit. O-M-G. My heart, and I'm sure Ryan's for that matter, was racing. I walk back to the escalator past everyone in line behind Ryan. Mind you, I'm looking real good at this point {just don't make eye-contact with people and they won't look at you} - I'm in my pajama pants and a t-shirt and {sorry for too much information} no bra - ugh! I wonder what those people were thinking - ha! I get back to the car and thank the police officer SO much for letting me park there for a minute. We are so appreciative for this nice police officer. If he hadn't let me park, I don't think I would have gotten Ryan his suit in time for him to make the flight and I would have had to overnight it to Baton Rouge for him {cha-ching!}. Ryan made it to his flight with only three minutes to spare.

I arrived home, again, it is now 5:30am or shortly after {I think I might have drove a little faster the second time around}. I'm tired but I have too much adrenaline going through me. I decide to take a shower myself so I can set my alarm back another 15 minutes. I laid in bed, didn't fall asleep for a while. Then I get woken up by some noise in the bathroom. I look in there and think to myself "Oh, it's just Cooper." So, I close my eyes and kind of drift off. Then I hear a full out commotion coming from the bathroom. I mean things falling and hitting the floor kind of commotion. It startled me from sleep. I get up out of bed and go into the bathroom. Cooper jumps down from the sink and literally bolts out of the bathroom. There is stuff everywhere including in the garbage which sits next to the sink. {We currently have a lot of stuff on our counters in there as we are dealing with lack of storage space, but that's another story.} I look in the sink and there is my hair tie. *sigh* Cooper's favorite toy is a hair tie. Seriously, I can have one around my wrist and he will grab it and try to pull it off. Well, after I got back from the airport, I put my pony tail holder around the top of the lotion bottle before I took a shower. Cooper had spotted the hair tie and was attempting to get it off the lotion bottle but apparently he's not that coordinated and that's when everything started falling all over the bathroom and making loud noises. *sigh* Lesson learned: no matter how tired, always put pony tail holders in a drawer so they are out of Cooper's sight. After cleaning up the bathroom, I laid back in bed but didn't fall asleep *yawn* so I just got up, ate breakfast and then left for orientation.

With all of this happening prior to 7:00am, I'd say I had a pretty crazy morning!

~Ashley