By Georgia Osten
Oh, the anticipation, waiting and waiting, what’s taking that plane so long? We arrived at the airport early of course. We were there to pick up our 9 year old granddaughter. Flying all by herself from Raleigh, North Carolina. The flight was to land at 7:30 am. To pick up an unaccompanied minor, we had to go through check-in just as if we were taking a trip. Our first scare, the guy at the counter pulls up her information and starts to look confused, “well this is unusual,” he said. The hair stands up on my arms and I start to sweat a little. What could possibly be wrong? I start to think “oh my God,” are we going to have to call our daughter and tell her they won’t let us have Addyson and we’re stuck at the airport in Houston 1,197.8 miles away from North Carolina. The guy behind the counter finally asked for our ID’s and said, “We’ll just handle it this way.” So, then I start thinking how he’s going to let us go ahead and take her. How easy is it to just take a child, any child off an airplane.
Next, we trudged through Security. And, no, we weren’t qualified as TSA Pre, so we had to take our shoes, belts and watches off. All this rigmarole and we didn’t even get an airplane snack, no free pretzels or peanuts or those yummy cookies.
We got to our gate and waited and waited. Then, we decided to ask this guy at this desk if perhaps the plane had decided to arrive at a different gate. JUST TO BE SURE … You never know …
He assured us the plane was “in range” and would be arriving soon. Of course, we had to have “in range” explained to us. JUST TO BE SURE … You never know …
They finally moved the plane that was at our gate, and the one that had been sitting out there for such a long time, finally moved on over. She was the first one off accompanied by a steward who praised her for her manners and forthrightness. Proud grandparents and so excited to have her all to ourselves for 2 weeks. Well, that’s not exactly correct, we do have to share her with countless other aunts and uncles and cousins.
It’s all good, we’ll spoil her while we can. First crazy request – ice cream for lunch! Why not, it’s not every day you travel 1,197.8 miles all by yourself!
[6-19-2017]
GO’s Sand Bucket is only one beach bum’s journal of life at the beach, probably something each of you can relate to. Please feel free to email me with your thoughts, visions and/or feelings of just exactly what the beach means to you. Email: [email protected]
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Aren’t Grandchildren Grand! 🙂 Carlis Cole