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scottahillMy grandmother died about a week ago. It was completely expected; she has been going downhill for a year, and a couple of days before we were told that her kidneys had shut down. The tragedy wasn't her death, but her long illness. Also, while she lived 15 minutes away by foot when I was growing up, and I saw her frequently, I wasn't close to her. She was the matriarch of a large family (7 children, 13 grandchildren), so when we visited I was one of many children there. I was (and am) much closer to my dad's parents.
So I went up to Pennsylvania for her funeral on Wednesday, and because I am still teaching, it was a quick trip: I planned to get there Tuesday night, go to the funeral on Wednesday, and fly back home Wednesday night. I planned to fly into Allentown (ABE), a small airport that is just down the road from my family; normally it is expensive but strangely it was only a few bucks more to fly there than to Philadelphia or Newark. I flew on United, through O'Hare (which is probably a mistake right there). The flight from Dallas to O'Hare was delayed due to weather in Chicago (ooh, it was windy!), and we touched down about a half hour before my flight to ABE was scheduled to leave. It didn't help that the gates were rather far apart from each other. As I dashed through the airport, however, I noticed that the flight was delayed by an hour and a half, and then by the time I got to the gate the flight had been cancelled. There were no other flights to Allentown, so I didn't know what was going to happen; I was wondering how long it would take to drive, etc. I stood in line at the gate, however, and the fellow just asked me if there was another city I could fly to, I told him Philly or Newark, and zip-zip! I had a flight to Philly. Unfortunately, that's meant someone had to make the 90-minute drive to Philly to pick me up, as I got in at midnight. My dad (who normally gets such jobs) has a thing about driving near cities, so fortunately my brother and sister-in-law volunteered. We got back to Easton at 2, and I got to bed at 3am, to wake up at 8am. (Five hours might be normal for some people but I need 8 or 9.)
There was a final viewing at 9 followed by a funeral mass at 10. It was good for me to see the whole family; it helped me appreciate the impact my grandmother's loss has had on them. Most of my grief and sadness was for my mother and her brothers and sisters and their loss. Sitting with them at the funeral mass, I had a hard time singing the hymns without being choked up---which worried me because I was going to sing "Ave Maria" after communion. Fortunately, going up to the choir loft gave me enough distance (literally and figuratively) to sing without problem...although the ends of phrases were a little tricky to keep going.
There was a luncheon afterwards, and although my mom was afraid I would miss something by flying out that afternoon, everyone else had left before I had to go to the airport. We therefore stopped at home, and there were two messages on the machine, one telling me that my flight was delayed and would I be able to come early and take an earlier flight, and then a second telling me my flight was cancelled and my itinerary was rescheduled. They rescheduled me to fly out of Allentown through Washington the next morning at 6am. I was ticked off because I thought it presumptuous for them to assume that the departure city was more important than the departure day, but it didn't really matter so I let it stand. It did mean that I had to get up at 3:30am the next morning, and while I tried to go to bed early, I still only managed another 5 hours of sleep. Read: walking zombie.
After two cancelled flights, I kept waiting for the trifecta, but while both of my flights back were delayed by weather, I did make it back. Unfortunately, I arrived to find Dallas suffering from 30-degree temperatures, 10-degree wind chills, and blowing snow. I also arrived too late to take my train back to the city, so I had to take a series of buses instead. Oh, and did I mention that I was not wearing a winter coat? (It was 60 degrees in Easton; hard to believe I had just flown SOUTH.) An unpleasant trip back. I was going right to SMU because I had scheduled office hours for my students; I didn't make it in time, but I was able to call someone at SMU who put a sign up on my office door. Thank goodness I had one student come, otherwise I would have been ticked that I had come in for no reason.
I was still very tired, but I had to prepare my lecture for today's Astronomy class. I did get to bed, and while I had my eight hours of sleep, I'm still not caught up yet. Hurrah for Saturday! :)
So I went up to Pennsylvania for her funeral on Wednesday, and because I am still teaching, it was a quick trip: I planned to get there Tuesday night, go to the funeral on Wednesday, and fly back home Wednesday night. I planned to fly into Allentown (ABE), a small airport that is just down the road from my family; normally it is expensive but strangely it was only a few bucks more to fly there than to Philadelphia or Newark. I flew on United, through O'Hare (which is probably a mistake right there). The flight from Dallas to O'Hare was delayed due to weather in Chicago (ooh, it was windy!), and we touched down about a half hour before my flight to ABE was scheduled to leave. It didn't help that the gates were rather far apart from each other. As I dashed through the airport, however, I noticed that the flight was delayed by an hour and a half, and then by the time I got to the gate the flight had been cancelled. There were no other flights to Allentown, so I didn't know what was going to happen; I was wondering how long it would take to drive, etc. I stood in line at the gate, however, and the fellow just asked me if there was another city I could fly to, I told him Philly or Newark, and zip-zip! I had a flight to Philly. Unfortunately, that's meant someone had to make the 90-minute drive to Philly to pick me up, as I got in at midnight. My dad (who normally gets such jobs) has a thing about driving near cities, so fortunately my brother and sister-in-law volunteered. We got back to Easton at 2, and I got to bed at 3am, to wake up at 8am. (Five hours might be normal for some people but I need 8 or 9.)
There was a final viewing at 9 followed by a funeral mass at 10. It was good for me to see the whole family; it helped me appreciate the impact my grandmother's loss has had on them. Most of my grief and sadness was for my mother and her brothers and sisters and their loss. Sitting with them at the funeral mass, I had a hard time singing the hymns without being choked up---which worried me because I was going to sing "Ave Maria" after communion. Fortunately, going up to the choir loft gave me enough distance (literally and figuratively) to sing without problem...although the ends of phrases were a little tricky to keep going.
There was a luncheon afterwards, and although my mom was afraid I would miss something by flying out that afternoon, everyone else had left before I had to go to the airport. We therefore stopped at home, and there were two messages on the machine, one telling me that my flight was delayed and would I be able to come early and take an earlier flight, and then a second telling me my flight was cancelled and my itinerary was rescheduled. They rescheduled me to fly out of Allentown through Washington the next morning at 6am. I was ticked off because I thought it presumptuous for them to assume that the departure city was more important than the departure day, but it didn't really matter so I let it stand. It did mean that I had to get up at 3:30am the next morning, and while I tried to go to bed early, I still only managed another 5 hours of sleep. Read: walking zombie.
After two cancelled flights, I kept waiting for the trifecta, but while both of my flights back were delayed by weather, I did make it back. Unfortunately, I arrived to find Dallas suffering from 30-degree temperatures, 10-degree wind chills, and blowing snow. I also arrived too late to take my train back to the city, so I had to take a series of buses instead. Oh, and did I mention that I was not wearing a winter coat? (It was 60 degrees in Easton; hard to believe I had just flown SOUTH.) An unpleasant trip back. I was going right to SMU because I had scheduled office hours for my students; I didn't make it in time, but I was able to call someone at SMU who put a sign up on my office door. Thank goodness I had one student come, otherwise I would have been ticked that I had come in for no reason.
I was still very tired, but I had to prepare my lecture for today's Astronomy class. I did get to bed, and while I had my eight hours of sleep, I'm still not caught up yet. Hurrah for Saturday! :)
