it felt so good to take a shower today.

really. i mean, i haven’t showered since sunday morning.

why, you might ask?

well that’s what happens when you’re stranded at an airport.

our trip to new york started off great. we flew standby, but made it on our scheduled flight. after dropping our bags off at the staten island hotel and having lunch with rachel and dave, joe’s sister and fiance who flew up friday night, we went with joe’s parents for a ride on the staten island ferry. i had never been to new york and, since we didn’t have time to go into the city, this was the next best thing.

i was fixated on the statue of liberty as we rode by it. there’s something about looking at that that makes you proud to be an american.

as we looked at the skyline of new york city, joe’s dad said, “it’s just so sobering.” since i’d never seen the city before, seeing it now without the twin towers didn’t hit me as hard as it did joe’s family.

when we got off the ferry, we spent a few minutes at battery park, where i bought a pretty prada purse (yes it’s a knock off and i’m not ashamed!). hehe. then it was back on the ferry for the ride back.

that night we went to joe’s great-uncle and great-aunt’s 40th wedding anniversary party. and can his family throw a party. it was excellent. it was catered by this chinese restaurant (and they made sure i had vegetarian food for each course) and seemed more like a wedding with place cards and personalized chocolate bars and lifesavers at every plate. there was an open bar and plenty of dancing. it was so much fun. i’m a really bad dancer, but joe and i had a great time dancing with his parents and rachel and dave, as well as slow dancing. and now we finally have “our song,” which i’ll post later when his parents send us the pictures of us dancing.

joe and dave even danced together.

sunday morning we were up at 7 a.m. for breakfast at one cousin’s house and then brunch at another cousin’s. it was bagels at both, and now that i’ve had a new york bagel i don’t think i can ever eat another bagel again. i can’t even describe how good new york bagels are, but i can tell you i’ll be emailing joe’s cousin greg to see if he can fedex me some. 🙂

then it was off to newark airport for the flight back. but when we got to our gate we discovered that the first two flights had been delayed, and the third cancelled, which means that flight’s passengers were going to be put on the last two flights to atlanta. i was a lower priority than joe’s family since i’m not related, and we knew we wouldn’t get on a flight, so we took a cab through new york to laguardia. we missed a 4:30 p.m. flight there to washington d.c. but made the 5:30.

at d.c.’s national airport the flights to atlanta were supposed to be wide open. that is, until they were all delayed and the last one cancelled. i was number 87 on the standby list when joe’s family was cleared for the 7:05 p.m. flight (which actually left at 8:05 p.m.). joe’s parents weren’t going to leave me there, and with the ticketing agent yelling for someone to get on the plane, they pushed rachel and joe on. i got upset for a few minutes, mainly because one minute joe was next to and the next he was gone without me being able to say goodbye, and i was stressed out. but i got over it and we began trying to get on the 8:05 p.m., which was scheduled to leave at 9:05 p.m.

we joined the crowd of other standby passengers at the gate, hoping to get on. i was the last person called. they tore our tickets, and as we were walking down the ramp to the plane, a man ran down and said that he had been called ahead of us. he had, joe’s dad said, so we let him go and asked one of the employees to make sure there weren’t three seats left.

there were only two, he said, so we told them to call two more people. as they did, one man said he’d check one more time. while he was gone, two girls ran down the ramp, excited to have gotten on the flight. we told them to wait because our seats were being checked on. they said, screw you, and got on the plane. the man came back and said there had been three seats left instead of two, but no one made the girls get off, and they let one other person on.

we were mad. not only had they given our seats to other people, but it turns out they had given seats to people with lower priority than me. we should have been on that flight no matter what.

we contemplated driving the 12 hours back to atlanta, but decided to book a room for the night and try for the 7:05 a.m. flight on monday which had 42 empty seats. when we got to our room around 10 p.m. or so, joe’s dad got on the phone to relist us while his mom and walked two blocks to a 24-hour cvs pharmacy to buy toiletries since our bags were in atlanta without us.

while we were there and while joe’s dad was still on the phone with delta, joe and rachel arrived in atlanta and began searching for our bags along with about 3,000 other people. it took them about two hours to find all our luggage.

we fell asleep somewhere between 1 and 2 a.m., and i was awake at 4 a.m. and out of bed at 4:45 a.m. to get ready to meet our 5:15 a.m. cab.

we got to the airport, checked in and went through security.

“you just won the lottery,” the security officer told me as he looked at my ticket after i walked through the metal detector.

that just couldn’t be good.

“you’ve been randomly selected for additional screening.”

yippee.

so while joe’s parents watched, my feet were inspected and another officer ran a wand over me to make sure i wasn’t hiding any weapons that the metal detector may have missed (didn’t know they’d miss that kind of thing). then she looked through my purse. camera. chocolate bars from the party. money. driver’s license. debit card. must have been pretty boring for her.

on to the gate. finally. we sat in the mini food court eating muffins for breakfast when we heard any announcement over the loudspeaker for any 8 a.m. passengers to atlanta who wanted to to switch to the 7 a.m. flight.

no. really, no. we had to be on that flight. HAD TO. it’s a thing called work. and a shower. and sleep.

we sat at the gate, and i was a nervous wreck wondering if we’d make it on the flight. joe’s parents were called, and his dad told them they were waiting for me. i was the last person cleared. i was relieved. joe’s dad later told me he had told them we had been screwed over the night before. maybe that had something to do with it.

so yesterday around 9:30 a.m. we got back to atlanta, and i was able to have lunch wtih joe, which was really nice.

and now it’s back to the grind. the daily routine. how nice that is!