Goodbye Texas, For Real This Time

Wednesday, December 29th

Got up around 7 to get dressed and get my final belongings packed.  We headed to DFW and found Delta easily since it was the third time we had been there.  I said goodbye to my mother and thanked her for all the wonderful things she had done for me.  If it weren't for her, this Texas Christmas trip wouldn't of been possible.  Thanks mom!

I tried to check my luggage but ran into some problems.  After waiting in the 'quick' line FOREVER, I finally got someone to help me.  However, she informs me that I'm in the wrong line.  PERFECT.  I get directed to the 'right' line with another guy that was waiting behind me in the 'quick' line.  He is a 350 lb. guido from New York.  He kept saying "what the fucks" and "can you fuckin' believe this?" in his accent. I just looked at him and smiled.  He was making my anxiety hit a new level.  He started talking to me and asking me questions.  He said all Texas had was cattle.  I agreed.

I finally got my situation figured out and made my way to security.  My gate was right next to security.  I found a seat and started reading Kathy Griffin's memoir.  A few minutes later, an attractive guy sat close to me.  I saw what was an Aggie ring but decided against saying anything.  

But I had my head up Darrelyn!!  Kind of.

They started boarding and I found my seat.  What do you know!  Right next to the attractive guy.  This guy looked and dressed a lot like my friend William.  However, he had a bit of a hairy nose situation.  I couldn't stop staring at his nostrils.  He asked if I went to A&M.  Turns out it was an A&M ring but he went to A&M Galveston.  He was on his way back to Florida where he was going to graduate school.  Turns out this guy was Mr. Chatty.  I like chatty people, in certain situations.  On planes, it can be very hit or miss.  Because let's face it.  There is no where to run.

But he was very nice and I won't say anything bad about him.  I just wanted to close my eyes sometimes while he was talking...

Made it to Atlanta and I got off the plane.  Made my way to the terminal where my next flight was taking off from.  There was a TGIFriday's there where I decided to have lunch.  There was a line outside of the restaurant but I made a B-line for the bar.  Found a seat between an older lady and a middle aged guy.  I ordered my beer and my usual chicken & cheese yumminess.  The bartender's there were very Atlanta and very black.  I overheard one of them talking about how she got sent home for being drunk on the job last week.  You do what you got to do at the TGIFriday's airport restaurant.  I started chatting it up with the older lady next to me.  She was going to Florida where she lived but is from New Jersey.  She said her son got stuck in New Jersey during the blizzard.  He managed to rent a car and it took him 10 hours to get from North New Jersey to Washington D.C. (real drive time 3 hours).  

After I finished my beer, I headed to my gate.  I took a seat across from a guy in an LSU sweatshirt.  He asked me if I was an Aggie and basically told me that the Tigers were gonna stomp the Aggies in the Cotton Bowl (well Congratulations).  He was a funny guy with a serious Cajun accent.  We boarded the plane and the lady scanned my ticket.  She said, "Mam, are you alright with sitting in the emergency aisle?"  I laughed and said, "Um, I guess.   I don't know if the plane is ok with me sitting in the emergency aisle."  I thought to myself as I was searching for my seat, emergency aisle?  Emergency aisle means extra leg space!  DONE.

I'm your emergency girl.

I sat next to a girl that was a few years younger than me that was with her scattered family around the plane.  We kept to ourselves as I read my book and listened to my iPod.  I was really nervous about the landing in Philadelphia because my friend Bianca landed in Philadelphia on Monday.  She told me it was the scariest and windiest landing ever.  I almost wore diapers to prepare myself for the landing.  But decided against it because they're adult diapers.

However, the landing wasn't too bad.  I got off the plane and made it to baggage claim.  The baggage claim was COVERED in random luggage.

(Think this but 1000x more.)

I saw my LSU friend and we started to chat it up.  He told me some Aggie jokes that I didn't understand.  I guess that is why I'm an Aggie.  I got a call from Katy Anne and she told me that she got stuck in Dallas.  Again.  Her flight from Dallas to Houston got delayed because Houston was having bad weather.  So she was going to therefore miss her flight to Philly.  What a fucking mess.  Makes me never want to fly Southwest after what she went through over Christmas.  I asked her how I got to the train.  She told me to go ask the information desk and that they would help me.

The baggage started coming through and eureka!  My bag had made it!  I grabbed my bag that was exactly 50 pounds and headed for the information desk.  I asked the woman what train I would take to get to Glenside.  She replied with "I don't know" and pointed to maps.  She informed me that I had just missed the train anyway.  Great.  I took a map and made my way to the train ramp.  The train comes every 45 minutes so I sat my happy ass down in the cold.  I had no idea how I would get to Glenside.  I called the guy that was supposed to pick me up in Glenside and told me that I would be later than originally told.  The train arrived and I tried to get on it.  He informed me that they were going to the last stop and that they would be back.  So I sat my (not happy) ass down again.

The train came back and I got on.  I was paranoid.  Looking around in a crazy panic.  A girl my age sat next to me with her small dog in a bag.  Ok Paris Hilton.

I told the train guy where I was going.  He told me I had to get off at Market station and then on a different train to Glenside.  God, train changes.  I thought I could just take one straight shot!  However, I told the girl next to me my fears and she reassured me.  She told me she was getting off at the same stop. Whew.  However, that didn't stop my continuing craziness.  I kept asking her if every stop was our stop. She would reply nicely, "No".  I'm sorry Paris Hilton.

There was an attractive guy across from up who only had a $100 bill for his ticket and the train guy couldn't break that.  However, the cute girl across from him just paid for his ticket.  They exchanged business cards and talked the entire way to there same stop.  I just stared in amazement.  It was a true love connection.  This was the story they were going to tell there children one day of how there parents met.  Why can't live be like romantic comedies?  Why can't I meet my future husband on a train and not in some bar somewhere?  Why are my relationships literally train wrecks?  Maybe meeting my future husband on the train isn't the right place for me...

We finally got off at our stop and I followed everyone up the escalator.  I got upstairs and didn't know where the fuck I was.  I made my way to the information desk.  They told me that my train was leaving on A1.  Where A1 was?  I fucking don't know.  Of course it was on the same platform where I originally got off.  But there was only an up escalator and stairs.  So I flung me and my 50 pound luggage down these stairs.  There was a guy behind me on his phone who laughingly asked if I was ok.  I told him that this was one of many issues for me.  He laughed and continued on.

A train came on A1 and I tried to get on it.  However, it didn't go to Glenside.  Fuck.  So I waited a few more minutes for the next train to come.  This was the one.  I sat close to a dad and his daughter.  The daughter was so funny with her Northern accent and Charms blow pop stuck in her ponytail.   They kept me amused during my train panic and asked where I was going.  They had just moved from New York to Pennsylvania.  I told him I was going to Glenside and he grew up in Glenside.  He told me he would make sure I got off on my stop.  Whew.  Thank God I keep attacking these people into informing me when my stop is.

I made it to my stop and got off.  I had met the guy who was picking me up before but couldn't put a face to the name.  However, there were not too many people there so I knew who it was!  He was so nice for picking my stranded ass up and taking me home.  I made it home, dragging my 50 pound luggage up the two flights of stairs.  I called Katy Anne and she had finally made it to Houston.  But her flight to Philadelphia kept getting delayed.  She was to arrive in Philadelphia at 2am.  This is going to be a long night.

I unpacked and started uploading my photos to my computer.  11pm hit and I started to get verrryyyyy sleepy.  I tried my hardest to stay up and left the house for the airport at 1am.  I got there and waiting in the parking lot for 20 minutes.  I feel asleep.  I get a call from Katy that she was ready to be picked up.  I found her and we embraced.  It was hard to be away from my roommate for almost two weeks.  We chit chatted on the way home and she informed me of all her flight drama.  We made it home where we both crashed.  

It was hard to be back in Philly because being in Texas made me realize how much I actually did miss it.  Family and friends.  Thinking about missed opportunities in Texas was overwhelming but I do not regret moving to Philly.  I'm up here for myself and no other reason.  Time to do damage.

"Whenever I get gloomy with the state of the world, I think about the arrivals gate at Heathrow Airport.  General opinion's starting to make out that we live in a world of hatred and greed, but I don't see that.  It seems to me that love is everywhere.  Often, it's not particularly dignified or newsworthy, but it's always there - fathers and sons, mothers and daughters, husbands and wives, boyfriends, girlfriends, old friends. When the planes hit the Twin Towers, as far as I know, none of the phone calls from the people on board were messages of hate or revenge - they were all messages of love. If you look for it, I've got a sneaking suspicion... love actually is all around."

-Prime Minister played by Hugh Grant in Love Actually