"Tale as old as time ... "

What a whirlwind of a weekend!!

After both of us getting soaked in the rain on Friday morning, Bruce and I headed to the airport in the afternoon.  We both took our shoes off in the car and cranked the air vents in an effort to have dry feet for the plane.  We were somewhat successful.  We got to the airport and our flight was 45 minutes delayed.  Then an hour and a half.  And the terminal was FULL of people who were stranded because of the monsoon-like storms that had flooded Atlanta throughout the day.  We decided to go and get something to eat and look at who we ran into!!  I was looking at something on my phone and telling Bruce a story and all of a sudden he tapped me and said "Sarah look who it is?!"  I didn't respond so he tapped me harder and said "SARAH LOOK WHO IT IS?!"  My Aunt Jennifer!!  She was in Atlanta from Daytona Beach for a bunch of business meetings for Merck and was stranded with a delayed flight because of rain as well.  I guess she had been there for five days but literally had been in a conference room that entire time.  Bruce and I thought it was good that we ran into her at the airport, because even if she had the time during her week to see us, we probably wouldn't have!!  So our delayed flight and her delayed flight ended up being a wonderful blessing in disguise.  We actually ended up being some of the lucky ones - both of our flights managed to take off only about two hours after they were supposed to (that was actually good considering some of the stories we were hearing) and the flight was fairly smooth, all things considered.

We landed, got our luggage and met my mom outside of HPN.  She took us straight to the high school so we could see the end of the show.  Bethany was texting me on the way saying that she thought we would make it for the transformation of the beast.  We got to the high school and the doors were locked!!  I texted Bethany and told her the doors were locked and three seconds later saw her running to the doors.  She slammed them open and yelled:  "Hurry up, the beast is transforming!!"  So she and I took off, leaving my mom and Bruce to explain to the security guards what was going on.  The simple explanation of "I'm Bob Keck's wife" was apparently enough for the security guards and Bruce and my mom weren't far behind us.  We got into the theater just as the smoke started and the roses lit up - and the beast was transformed into the prince!!  It's magic.

After the show, we went to the choreographer's house for an adult cast party.  It was fun for me to be able to relax and not be in Connecticut for meetings and to feel like I had to be on top of my game.  We got home around 3 in the morning and went to sleep.

The next morning we got up and got ready for a day at the high school.  Because my dad knew Disney would attract families and girl scout troops alike, he added another matinee this year - the second Saturday.  The first show was at 2 p.m. and it was WONDERFUL.  I started crying during the song "Beauty & The Beast."  During the second show I started crying before intermission!!  The show was really THAT good (and there's also something about Disney).

Sunday morning we went to church and I'm happy to say that I got to talk to most of the people who I had missed when I was there two weeks ago.  Lynn was back in church and overwhelmed by the support she received when Natasha died.  I told her that I finally had to stop watching the news because it was making me so upset to see a family trying to grieve with cameras in their face and she looked like the paparazzi had been as bad as they seemed.  She also told me that a group from the Westboro Baptist Church had flown in to protest Natasha's funeral because she supported AIDS research (for more information click HERE).  This was the same group that tried to protest Heath Ledger's funeral for his role in "Brokeback Mountain."  I was absolutely horrified when I heard this.  Everyone is entitled to their own opinion about homosexuality and even to its link to the spread of AIDS (even if I think they're wrong, to put it nicely) but every family allows to grieve the loss of a loved one and no one has the right to take that away from them.  Plain and simple.  I will not disagree with someone's opinion on homosexuality, but I'm horrified that this church puts this kind of distress on God's children in the name of the Christian Church and Salvation through Jesus Christ.  It's pathetic.

Anyway, some friends of mine were also in church and they had very exciting news - they're expecting a baby!!  She's about eight weeks pregnant so she has a long way to go, but that gives me plenty of time to knit a blanket.  This is the second person who has told me they're pregnant in the last couple of weeks and I can think of at least four friends to have welcomed babies so far this year - is there something in the water?!  I'm really happy for all of these wonderful parents - and happy to be the one spoiling their children and handing them back when they start crying!!

We had a fairly lazy afternoon at my parent's house.  We had a birthday lunch for Bruce and then started slowly packing.  There were a couple more bridal shower gifts that Bruce and I wanted to bring back so we borrowed a suitcase from my parents and got ready to head to the airport.  When I checked us in, the flight was showing that it was on time.  Not for long.  By the time Bruce and I got to the airport, the sheriff standing outside told my mom to wait because a lot of flights were being cancelled.  Our flight wasn't cancelled, but the plane we were supposed to be getting on was currently in Orlando and not expected to leave for another hour and a half.  We asked if we could get on the 7:30 flight the next morning, got new tickets and headed back to my parent's house.  We ended up having a really nice night; we ordered pizza and watched March Madness and I worked on my exegesis for my Friday colloquy sermon.

The next morning was something of a fiasco.  The airport was packed, we were still standing in the ticket line as our flight started to board, Bruce got stopped going through security because of the guacamole stone we were bringing back and we got stuck in a traffic jam of people trying to get to the gate.  We raced through the tunnel and on the plane.  At this point I hadn't had coffee and was very cranky.

We actually landed earlier than anticipated and our luggage came right out.  We took MARTA back to our car and I was starting to feel worn and cranky.  This eventually led to me crying in our parking lot because one of my bags had fallen over and everything had fallen out.  Not worth crying over for sure and at that point Bruce told me I needed to take a nap.

I did take him up on the suggestion to take a nap, although I first tried to outline a paper that I had due for Dr. Lartey's pastoral care today.  I normally don't outline papers, but I've been going through a phase lately and it actually has been helping me out a lot!!  So I sketched a rough outline, took a nap and wrote the paper.  And I'm actually fairly happy with it, too.  I was nervous about that paper and my sermon exegesis that was due today so I was relieved the paper wrote easily and I was able to wake up and focus on my sermon exegesis (which I finished this morning, e-mailed to my colloquy group leader and she returned it with an A on it!!).  So even though I got ZERO work done this weekend, it ended up working out for the best because I got to see the show and my papers were turned in on time!!

Anyway, I'm slowly getting back into the week.  I'm trying to get things accomplished, but having more luck in certain places than in other places.  I'm just trying to keep myself focused for the rest of the week.  Tomorrow's Wednesday - halfway there!!  No matter how tired I am this week, the weekend was AMAZING.  People kept asking me if I was excited to see my dad's show and I didn't want to say yes because I didn't want to jinx it (what if the flight got cancelled, etc.) but now that I've seen it I will say that I was jittering and rambling with excitement all of last week and I am SO HAPPY I was able to be there.  I will never be able to thank my parents enough for making it possible for Bruce and me to be there - for my dad for offering his own money and pushing the issue and for my mom for making multiple airport trips and rearranging her own schedule.  The phrase "thank you" just doesn't seem like enough to express my total gratitude.  But for now - Thank You.

Until next time y'all,

Sarah