Just a Little Rant

I don't usually rant, but what a couple of days it has been!  My older sister, God bless her, was due to come visit me yesterday around noon.  She had a 2 hour drive, and it's a drive she has made before.  She was going to be coming here to stay overnight and then I would be driving her to the airport early this morning to catch a flight to Arizona to visit her grandaughter.

I was looking forward to the company, and had my house cleaned and a nice dinner planned.  My younger sister and her boyfriend were coming for dinner too, so it was going to be a good time.  I always look forward to having my sisters over.  While I'm the quiet, rather shy one...the two of them are just the opposite.  They say whatever is on their minds and not always with a lot of finesse.  So we often spend most of our time together laughing.

Well, yesterday as I was waiting for my sister to walk in the door at any moment I got a phone call.

"Cheryl...I don't think I can drive down there.  My nerves are shot.  So I was thinking someone could come and get me."

My first thought was "No way!"  After all, I had spoken to her only 2 hours before and she was just fine.  I just couldn't see any reason why she couldn't drive.  But I was nice, and told her that I would see what we could do.  I knew I couldn't go and get her because my car needed new tires and the inspection just ran out.  I wasn't able to reach my younger sister.  So in the meantime, my older sister called back and said her friend was driving her down.

I have to say...I breathed a sigh of relief.  Two hours later, they arrived and I found out the reason my sister had not wanted to drive.  Too much wine.  Yep.  She saw on the news about all of the Charlotte traffic and crime and had a glass of wine to calm her nerves, and then decided to have another...and another.  Needless to say, by the time she was nice and calm, she was also nice and drunk.

To give her credit, she didn't try to drive while intoxicated.  But I was a bit perturbed at the way she thought we all would just drop what we were doing to come and pick her up for such a reason.

Well, the rest of the evening went well.  Dinner was nice, and we all had a good time.  I kept asking my sister what time her flight this morning was supposed to leave and she would just kind of shrug and say, "I'm not sure....I'll check later."

Well, she checked and it was due to leave at 7:45 am.  They had told her to arrive at the airport 1 1/2 hours ahead of time.  So this morning I woke her at 5 am.  I was dressed and ready to head out of the door at 6:00.  But she dawdled.  She read the paper and drank her coffee.  I kept reminding her of the time and she would chuckle and say..."Oh..we have plenty of time."  By the time I actually got her out to the car it was 6:30.  Once out there, she had to look in the trunk at her luggage and rearrange a few things and take a few items out.  By the time that was done it was 6:45.  By the time we got to the airport it was 7:10. 

The line to check in was so long.  I was starting to panic.   I love my sister but really wasn't planning on her staying with ME for a week...so I was praying she would get  on her flight.  Still, she was taking it all in stride, and I was wondering why she wasn't feeling nervous about the possibility of missing her flight.  After all, that seemed more upsetting to me than making a 2 hour drive to Charlotte.  She got in line and waved goodbye, telling me she would call me when she got to Arizona. 

I left the airport and then my husband and me went to drop my car off to have new tires put on.  When I got back home, my sister called to tell me that she missed her flight.  She said that they were going to let her know around 11:30 if there would be one she could get on in the afternoon...so she was going to wait and call me back.  I told her I'd have my phone on.

Right after I hung up, I noticed my phone had died.  When I went to charge it, I noticed that it wasn't working.  Then I panicked, knowing my number was the only one my sister had to call if she wasn't able to catch a flight.  So I headed to the cell phone place to get a new battery for my phone.  The guy put a brand new battery in, but it was totally dead.  I went home and plugged it right in to charge it, knowing that at least I would hear the phone ring if she called.  Two hours later I went to check and see if I had missed any calls and noticed that the darn phone STILL wasn't taking a charge.  Now I was really upset...because I thought my sister might have called during that time.  So I got back in the car and went back to the cell phone place.  The guy checked it out and discovered that the battery he had given me was defective.  So he gave me another battery.

My husband decided to call and see if the garage was finished putting the tires on my car, and found out that it needed new brakes, an alignment, and new headlights.  So that meant I wouldn't have my car to go and pick my sister up from the airport if she called.  Therefore, my husband had to get a ride with someone else to work...so I could keep his car in case my sister called for us to pick her up from the airport.

Anyway, I came home...plugged in my phone, and it began to charge this time. I breathed a sigh of relief. I then was happy to be alone to write for a few hours and do some work online....but my internet wasn't working.  The first thing I did was call to see if we paid the bill...and we had.  After that I reset everything and rebooted and still nothing.  When my 16 year old came home from school, he discovered that my sister had flipped a switch and also unplugged something that had to do with our internet.

As I write this, I haven't heard anything more from my sister.  So I don't know if she got a flight to Arizona or if she got nervous and hit the airport bar.  I'm waiting....patiently....praying she caught her flight...