Chicago 1 of 6: The Flight and First Night

My highly anticipated trip to Chicago came and went so quickly. Truly, I would have to say that is was one of the best trips on record. And I realize that is a lot of trips. It was the perfect mix of lounging around and running around. And there is just something about spending time with the BFF. She is the best. Instead of trying to cram everything we did in one measly little post, I will do one post for each day I was there. It really was just the best vacation. And I want to relive every moment. If you don’t want to relive it, I wanted to warn you. :)

I went to work on Tuesday, my flight didn't leave till 4:57, so I had to go to work. Working when you have the anticipation of something super awesome ahead of you is the pits. I was so excited. My legs were shaking I wanted to leave so badly. Finally 2:30 rolled around and I bolted out the door. I drove home and realized I hadn’t eaten lunch and I didn’t want to buy anything at the airport since it is legalized robbery to purchase anything there. So I packed myself a little lunch/dinner “snack.”

This is what was in my purse:
A baggie chock full of strawberries
A peeled orange
A baggie of pretzels
A baggie of cheese to eat with the pretzels
A baggie chock full of grapes
A peanut butter and jam sandwich
And probably some more stuff that I don’t remember

I know. That is a lot of food. It was like a stinking buffet. And my purse isn’t that big. It was overflowing. I couldn’t even zip it up. I have always wondered what women put in their huge hand bags. Now I know. They put food in there.

Craig took me to the airport. He’s a good chap. My duffel was packed pretty tightly. It must have weighed over twenty five pounds. But dang anyone who would try to make me pay $25 to check it. So I hauled it to the gate. And guess what? They didn’t make me check it. They put a lovely pink tag on it and carried it down to the belly of the metal plane for me. Nice. I had a bit of time to kill so I started reading the book that has been recommended to me time and time again. I decided to take a sabbatical from my reading sabbatical and started reading “The Hunger Games.” All of a sudden I heard someone speaking another language. It sounded very slurred. And then I heard a word I recognized. And then another. It was Polish. I stopped reading and started listening. Polish is dang hard, I decided. I could understand everything he was saying, but there was no way I would be able to carry on any sort of conversation with him. He saw that I was eavesdropping and asked me where I learned Polish. He asked me in English. So I told him, in English. It was a nice little missionary moment.

We boarded the plane. It was tiny and squishy. Luckily, I had a small little Asian person sitting next to me. He looked like he was about 12. But he was studying, like, chemical engineering stuff, so he must have been in his twenties. I cracked open my book again and I couldn’t put it down. I was so engrossed that we landed in Chicago before I knew it. And guess what else? My purse was empty. Yeah, I ate ALL of that food. I’m just glad it was mostly healthy things. I was stuffed like a Thanksgiving turkey. But I was reading so I wasn’t paying attention! So I learned not to read and eat. It's dangerous.

Well anyway, I waited for my pink tagged bag that really probably should have been checked. I had to walk a lot farther in this airport and my arms were getting tired. I stood by the curb and the BFF said that she would be there in a minute. I was little cold so I put on a little zip up hoodie. Then I saw her, face forward, driving right passed me. I picked up my bag, started running after her, and dialing her up. She thought I was in terminal three. I was in terminal two. She pulled over and I said I could run to catch up. I looked like a crazy person and I was running out of breath. Plus, it was getting hot. The hoodie was a bad idea. She said she was right in front of the yellow Hertz bus. I saw the back of a bus and stopped running. My legs were wobbly like jello jigglers. I love Jello. And then I saw that there were five buses all lined up. And the Hertz bus was the first in line. Needless to say, I was dripping sweat by the time I caught up to the car. And there she was laughing at us both. But I was laughing too. We drove home and we were like two hens just clucking away. We just talk so much. And then we got home and talked some more. We didn’t go to bed till 1:30. I felt bad because she has little Addie that gets up early as can be. But we just had so much to say! I hit the pillow and slept like a rock. It was a pretty good first day. And it was funny.