I'm home -- but my suitecase isn't......

Well, my adventure was almost over. I just needed to get home now. When I left, I was half afraid I'd end up staying in NYC. (I guess what I'm saying is that I was half afraid something would tempt me to make a decision between going home or not.) I actually flirted with seeing if I just might be able to work things out and stay up there. I had a potential very potential -- since I didn't fully check it out job offer. But, I reasoned that instead of being my impulsive self and turning my life (and the lives of many others) upside down, I'd go home and think about it. I can always go back and try, right? I've make some contacts, explored what I'll be faced with, etc.

So, home I headed. My flight was at 9:30 A.M. and since I had to leave the apt. clean -- I used that as an excuse to stay in a hotel close to the airport overnight. I mean, how could I have slept on the sheets and then had them washed and dried before I had to leave at 7 A.M. for the airport. There were several little details like that I just didn't feel like worrying about. So I spent the night in a luxurious (compared to what I'd been staying in) room at the Marriott. King sized bed (that I didn't have to wash the bedding and make up), bathroom (that I didn't have to clean), room service (dishes I didn't have to wash).... you get the point. And a free shuttle to the airport. (No worries about car services arriving on time.)

Bright and early the next moring I boarded the shuttle for the airport. It didn't take long before I was dropped off in front of the hell masquerading as LaGuardia Airport. WTF! Eight o'clock in the morning and the lines were out the door. I was surprised, but what did I know? Maybe this is normal, I thought -- untill I started hearing more and more people (some locals who flew regularly) expressing surprise also. The only excuse we heard for the mayhem was that the storms that had blown through the night before had messed up crew arrivals. Whatever!

As I stood in the l-o-n-g line for security I assumed I'd never make my flight. But, I did. The line moved surprisingly fast. Not that it mattered. My flight ended up being delayed 1 1/2 hours. I didn't complain as there were some people there whose flights were delayed more than 4 hours -- there were even some people there who had flights canceled the day before and were back to try again. So, as we finally boarded our plane, passengers and crew were not in the best of moods.

I wasn't bumped to first class for this flight. In fact I sat next to a very disgruntled passenger. Without going into details, she quickly (thank goodness) told me her list of grievances and then went to sleep -- snoring loudly enough to be heard over the plane noise. She would wake herself up with her snoring She would wake up from time to time to express surprise that she had been snoring so loudly or to glare at one of the attendants and tell me she had that attendant's name -- first and last names -- and was writing a letter to the airline about her treatment.

Without going into more details, you can probably imagine how happy I was when that flight ended.

Okay. I'm home. J's at the airport to pick me up. We head to baggage claim for my bag. We wait. And we wait. And we wait. And....

When there are only two lonely suitcases going round and round (neither of which was mine) J. asks for my baggage claim ticket so we can check on my suitcase. Sh*t! What claim? I never got one. Do they give them anymore? J. insists they do, and he storms off to check (after telling me there's no way in hell they'll know what happened to my bag since I have no claim ticket). Wwwwweeeeeeeeell, turns out it was no problem. The computer proves I had checked in a bag and that it had stayed at LaGuardia because the plane was too full to fit all the luggage.

After my suitcase flew from NYC, to Atlanta, then to Baton Rouge, some kind soul delivered it to my back door. Even though the zippers were not closed completely and some clothes were peeking through the openings -- we were reunited. I was glad I'd either mailed or carried on my important stuff. Listen when they tell you to do that.

And my seatmate on the flight home? Turns out she and her husband are from New Orleans but have been living in NYC for several years. They were going to visit her inlaws who lost much in Katrina but have managed to relocate close to NOLA. She and her husband teach drama in schools/camps/workshops. She mentioned how they were thinking about moving back and opening a school but didn't know if it would be a good place for their four-year-old daughter.

It's the comment she made as we sadly gazed over New Orleans while landing that has stuck with me. We had been talking about the governor's race this October and she said, "You know, something didn't change New Orleans. I wonder if someone can change it?"

I, too, wonder the same thing.