Bad flight, good flight...who am I to judge?

When he flies, Elder Son always teases me, “Wonder if this will be a Mom fly day?” Or he will call, “Mom, you’re rubbing off on me, guess what happened at DFW?” Or, Vegas - “Mom, I’m sitting in the plane, on the tarmac. The captain just announced they’re canceling this flight due to maintenance issues, so I won’t be home for 4 more hours, and Mom, it’s your fault, they must know I’m your kid.”

Yes, we are finally home from the Mile-High City trip - and glad to be so. You thought the weather was funky in West Texas? You should have been in Denver. It was fun, and pretty there. But…

We. Almost. Got. Stuck. In. Denver.

Our flight out of Denver was scheduled to leave at 12:45 p.m. . Some of our colleagues were on the same flight, going to Houston. They had been in the President’s Club, and heard that at 2 p.m., high winds were expected, and the Denver airport would be shut down. It was lightly snowing, I was a little worried. We were on time, boarded the plane, so I started breathing a little easier.

We back away from the airport, and start taxiing for position. We stop. Everything goes quiet. The engines start again, and then go quiet.

Due to the cold temperature, the right engine would not start,. Mechanics came out and start working on the plane. Meanwhile, time is ticking by. We sit on the plane 15 minutes, then 30, then 40. Finally, at 1:45 p.m., we are cleared to fly. They spray antifreeze over the entire plane. The snow outside is now blowing in a horizontal line, so I know the winds are coming, if they have not yet. We take off, and everything is well.

We get to Houston, and basically run to the train. Our 2 ½ hour layover has now evaporated to an hour. Disembarking the train, we are running (with many others) to the B Gate (down in the bowels of IAH Airport). As we come down a ramp, a security guard stops the entire crowd. “Halt! Back up!” she screams, cordoning off the area. There has been a security breach within the airport.

About 5 minutes later, she lets us all go (with no explanation as to the breach), and we get to our gate just in time to board the bus to go to the small jet that will fly us to Midland. Thank God. We’re home again…finally.

And Elder Son? Well, last night he was scheduled to fly from Lubbock to Austin. He was invited to hang and spend some studio time with Keith Gattis, a renown lead guitarist and rising country music solo artist.

I know ES arrived at Austin in a timely fashion, because he text-messaged me: “Austin, Texas welcomes Elder Son!” We can always count on our sons to make us laugh.

Yeah, well - let's see what happens on his flight home.