Last night Eric and I spent some quality time together as I trimmed his unruly mane of hair. Noticing the stubble on his face, I asked if any managers have spoken to him about his facial hair, due to the fact that it violates McDonald's grooming policies. (He shaved the goatee a few weeks ago and hasn't shaved since.) He said, "No, but speaking of that, it was a pretty exciting shift for me today because I had to avoid letting the manager see my face. I had to be constantly alert to turn away or look down every time she came around. Had a few close calls! Fortunately we were very busy." Can you just imagine! He is going to trim it down to the goatee again Saturday night after he returns from his exciting trip.
He has never been in a commercial airplane before, so it was with a bit of trepidation that I sent him off today to catch a flight to Boise. We talked through the airport check-in procedures last night, and he felt pretty confident because he had seen people at airports catching flights in movies! Molly and friends took him to the Portland Airport, where his flight was to leave at 4:35 this afternoon.
About 3:45 I called to see if he had made it all the way through yet. No answer so I called Molly's phone. I freaked out when he answered it. "You're still with Molly?!" He replied that he was four miles from the airport because traffic had moved very slowly since getting off I-5. If I were prone to anxiety attacks, I would have had one then. I was worried sick and thought I would never make it through the long minutes until I received word that he was safely at the gate. I said a prayer and fortunately was immediately distracted from my overwhelming anxiety by some entertaining conversation with co-workers at the end of a Friday.
About 4:15 I remembered that I was worried sick and called him again. Straight to voice mail. When I called Molly, I was relieved to hear her voice. She reported she had seen Eric clear the security checkpoint. He soon called me to report he was safely at the gate and the flight was delayed at least a half hour because the plane hadn't landed from Boise yet. I asked him to let me know when he arrived safely.
At 6:30, 45 minutes after his expected arrival time in Boise, I received this text from him, "I'm safe and I'm in Boise...And I'm in a very small plane....."
Will's sister was to meet him in Boise and drive him to Cousin Juanita's beautiful place on the Snake River in Glenn's Ferry, where Will has been staying. They will head for home tomorrow, Will driving his new pickup and Eric driving his grandpa's pickup, which Will is going to sell.
We need a bigger driveway! And I'm going to have to cook meals again!
1 comment:
Congratulations! :) I think Melissa and I were both in high school when we flew alone from Florida, but one of dads co-workers was on the plane with us. That's when we met Jim Neighbors (surely I spelled Gomer's name wrong) on the plane.
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