Final Goodbyes, Tragical Depress, Déjà vu and A Wing and a Prayer
When my lovely stroll around the Yacht and Beach Club was done, it was sadly time for me to face the sad reality that my trip was over.
My monkey friends were staying on a few more days. They would be heading over to the new villas at the Poly and I was jealous! But my boys were starting school the next day and that evening was an open house for my incoming freshman. Ben wanted me to go to that with him.
I suggested that dad could bring him, but he said "That's not ok!"
I returned to the room to gather up my things. I packed a few of the cookies ~Ninjamom had made for a snack on the plane. I had a few minutes to sit out on the balcony to talk to Rebecca, who was the only monkey awake.
I left the room and went down to the lobby to wait for this:
As we drove by Reedy Creek Fire Department, I took a picture because of the story I had told the students on the class trip a couple of months prior.
We stopped at another resort to pick up passengers (CBR?), and then the driver announced that we would be returning to the Beach Club because they had forgotten to put one of the suitcases for a passenger on the bus.
Déjà vu- Maybe it is a sign that it really wasn’t time for me to leave yet!!!
But they didn’t let anyone off the bus, so once again we were underway.
And arrived here:
It wasn’t too busy at 11 am on a Tuesday on the first day of September.
I went in to one of the gift shops and look what I found:
I miss my monkeys!!!
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A Wing and a Prayer
Mark really does not like to fly Southwest. He does not like taking a chance with where he will be seated and especially who he will be seated with. I don’t really care. If I end up with someone I don’t know for 3 hours, I just read and enjoy some quiet time. It is a short-lived thing. So on the return flight, Mark and the boys signed up for the early-bird seating, I did not. I was flying alone so I didn’t care.
But Mark got me a pretty good number- A something.
I boarded the plane on Tuesday and found a window seat. Nobody sat with me for awhile, then a woman about my age came and sat in the aisle seat (that annoys me- they are doing it with the hopes nobody sits in the middle and it makes it tough for people to find a seat). An older woman and her husband came by. The woman says she will take the seat after she gets her husband settled into another seat further back.
She sits and we don’t interact much. I glance over and see she is reading a Christian magazine. I wonder if she is a holy-roller zealot or just a kind, religious woman. In the last hour or so, we chatted about where she was headed (do you live in Manchester or visiting?) The woman and her husband were visiting friends who would be taking them to Acadia State Park. I told her we may be going there in November as we look at colleges (U Maine and Unity) for my son.
I had purchased a sandwich for lunch and had packed cookies that ~Ninja made. I asked if she would like an oatmeal chocolate chip cookie and she said “This is my FAVORITE kind of cookie!” She raved about it. Rightly so. They really were good!
At the end of the flight, she asked what my son’s name was. I told her Nate. She said she would pray for Nate as he goes through his college quest.
I told her thanks and if she could throw in a request for a couple of A’s, I would appreciate it.
She laughed.
Nate has had an excellent senior year so far and just committed to attend the University of New Hampshire in the fall, so it looks like she held up her end of the bargain.
I’ll conclude this story with the Facebook post I wrote at the airport on the way home:
On my way home from an unforgettable trip to Florida. We had an incredible family trip to Universal then I continued on to the Beach Club with friends. We shed tears of laughter followed by tears of sorrow when our dear friend's husband left his family too soon. I learned how important it is to spend time with people who mean the world to me and to tell them I love them. And that there are secret bathrooms in Epcot. But mostly the love thing.