On the floor, to the right of me, is a young woman and her son from Chesnut Ridge, NY. (Her name is Hannah and his is Maxwell.) They were on their way to Dallas. Farther down, a young man sleeps, on the floor, with his head on his backpack.
Across the way, a young couple sits.....eating a sandwich. To my left, stretched along the wall.....anywhere there's an outlet, so that a cell phone can be plugged in, there are people.
We're all stranded, for the night, in the Shreveport airport. No hotel rooms available, because of the 9 flights that were diverted from Dallas due to the terrible storms. Our flight was one of the last to disembark. There are people here from everywhere......trying to get anywhere......everywhere.
I wonder what happened to the flight, from Mexico. There is no Customs Agent, here, so they were unable to get off the plane. We sat, on the plane on the tarmac, for 5 hours. The pilot gave updates, every hour, and the horrible weather attacking Dallas, continued.
I travelled, weekly, as an HRM Software Consultant....and never have I ever spent the night in an airport. This was never on my "Bucket List," but I think I'm going to enjoy it!!
Mother Nature was in charge of this. I can be miserable, or I can write a story. You KNOW what I'm going to do!! I've seen news clips about these types of situations and I could never imagine it. Now, I'm experiencing it.....firsthand!! It's an adventure!!
What we know is......this is a rather small airport.....and there is only one American Airlines gate. There are between 7 - 9 flights that will leave, this airport, sometime tomorrow morning. The one gate agent told us "there are 7 - 9 flights that will leave between 7 a.m. - 9 a.m. tomorrow, and that's all I know!" And so we sit, in limbo.
The two small cafes remained open, to keep us fed. And one of the airport maintenance men came around, passing out bottles of water. And....everyone, in this airport, is so friendly.....how....tell me HOW......can one be so upset. Remember, it was Mama Nature that did this!! (Some people aren't happy unless they can complain!!)
In Iowa, my guy (that I was looking forward to seeing, tonight) worries. In Mississippi, my family worries, and in Texas, my family worries. Quit worrying!
I'll get rebooked, and I'm okay. (But I think I'm going to start a "cots for rent in airports" projects.) I'm just not sure how these "old bones" are going to react to the concrete floor underneath this carpet.
This wasn't really how I had hoped it would turn out, but it's okay. It's an adventure that wasn't even on my Bucket List!!!
Thank you, God, for this life that you allow me to live!!
#lifeisfun #mybucketlist #sleepingonthefloor
