Wait! Let me rephrase this: “Our world was ROCKED- due to Mother Nature’s Little Trick.”

The most ‘hoped and longed for’ desire of my children, was to go home to NY over the winter break for a long week, and spend it with their very much, missed friends.  They’d been crossing the days off of their calendars since the summer!  We bought 3 new suitcases- one for each girl, 13, 14 and 17 years old, they were going off on their own to fly those friendly skies!  Then SHE stepped in. The NERVE of that Beeyotch! Not sure I can say that, but what’s True, is TRUE!  Mother Nature overstepped her boundaries in a Big Way.

We got hit with snow, to the tune of 5 inches the night before lift off!  I started my ‘Mother Dance,’… you know the one, “Girls. We may need to rethink this…,” as I’m looking down into 3 sets of eyes as big as mine looking back at me with horror in them… I continued, “Seriously, I’m not sure this is exactly Safe weather to fly in! How do we know what’s going on in NY??”  SILENCE. That’s what I heard.  Not ONE PEEP.  They were utterly mortified that I’d even suggest the thought of not going!

I checked with US AIR, and the flight was still on, and NY was accepting planes, so… my husband and I looked at each other, shrugged our shoulders, and gave in.  Let the nightmare begin…

The kids got on the plane, and SAT there for 3 hours on the tarmac.  The pilot assured the cabin that they were now ready for takeoff, which they indeed Did do, and flew to NYC.  Their friend’s Mom was already at the airport in NY waiting for the arrival of the plane, because she’d heard the weather was going to be bad later, and thought she’d beat the storm.

I got a call from my 17-year-old, which for the life of me I couldn’t figure out HOW- she was still in the air- but the captain was flying low and had just blurted out over the speaker system, that they couldn’t land in NY!  The Panic started to seep in, about now, starting from my head, traveling south as I started stomping my feet in my, “I TOLD  YOU!” dance!  It turned into a RAIN dance by the time we hung up, as I overheard the pilot saying, “Ladies and Gentlemen, due to the severity of the storm we’re flying below, (Below? What BELOW?) we’ll need to park this plane in Pennsylvania.”  That’s when we lost the connection. I should start a blog called, “R U KIDDING me.”

Pennsylvania’s a pretty big state, and being that I had no idea which was the designated CITY- I started calling everyone and anyone I knew in each city I could think of.  All cities were covered, and I was proud! EXCEPT for Harrisburg, and that’s where they landed!

Next, I receive a call from the eldest, and they’re off the plane, sitting in the airport, in Harrisburg, mind you this is 6 hours already- and she says, “Mom? They’re putting us on a bus to La Guardia, and it’s leaving soon.”  ‘Out of control?’ YES, at that point, I BLEW.  I put my lips as close to that phone as I could, almost swallowing it, and said, “GET ME AN ADULT that WORKS for US AIR! NOW!!!”  This guy gets on the phone and tells me, they either get on the bus, or fly back to Charlotte.  No, “Ma’am, would it be ok with you, if we put your 3 children on a bus, in this monstrous blizzard instead of flying them in this monstrous blizzard all the way back to Charlotte?” He just out-and-out Told me what they were doing with MY KIDS.  Furious and frustrated, doesn’t EVEN come close to how I was feeling.

I had to weigh the odds- that was some storm… in which scenario, did we see them with a greater chance of survival?  We wound up not having to make the choice, because the next thing that happened was, NO BUS.  It couldn’t make it to the airport.  At that point, I put the back of car seat down… did I forget to mention that this whole conversation was on my cell, while I was out with my other two kids?  The two older kids, whose mouths were pretty much agape at this whole shenanigan.  My 22-year-old did the worst thing she could have done: She said, “I TOLD YOU not to let them go, now you SEE??”  She’s lucky I gave birth to her.

They put my three babies back on a plane, and flew them through that storm right back to Charlotte. The clock ticked… I kept looking up at the sky… and they made it.  My husband waited for 2 hours at the US Airways refund desk, where he was told, ‘Sorry- no dice.’   Again- lucky it wasn’t ME in that line. I have the shorter fuse, for sure.

Here they came, into the house, 12 hours later, my three seasoned travelers, with their heads hung low.  I never felt so badly for anyone ever before.  They walked upstairs, and picked up their crossed off calendar, and just looked at it.

Next day, I checked every airline available, and there were no flights to NY.  I also arranged to get that refund! Paleeze… then?  I booked the BUS.

My girls are on a GREYHOUND BUS bound for NYC!  We figured, if they could handle that long a day, and get Nowhere, they could handle that long a day and get to where they wanted to be!  How cool is THAT! LOL!

Here’s the National Story from CNBC:

Hoping you’ve read  ‘Part One’ of this saga about my kids flying through the blizzard to NYC, and if Not, you can read it right here: http://ow.ly/3vnep. That way, what I’m about to tell you will make more sense, and here- we made National News, if you don’t believe ME!http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21134540/vp/40817805#40817805

They were scheduled to leave at 10 am on the 26th of Dec.  After sitting on that tarmac, flying to NYC, circling back to Harrisburg, Pa, and then back to Charlotte inside a 14 hour window, I couldn’t find another available flight- no duh? Every one and their MOTHER was trying to rebook something or other…. Literally!  So, as previously mentioned I booked them on a Greyhound Bus.

Three pair of hopeful eyes looked at me, as I paid for the seats over the phone, and they Jumped for Joy!!!  This was now 10 am on the 28th. They still had their suitcases packed in hope of travel, so they were good to go!

My husband took them to the bus station an hour before departure as per the ‘guy on the phone’ suggested, and there they stood IN LINE, while being told, “First Come, First Serve.”  What happened to having guaranteed seats by paying up front on the phone??  I’m pretty much ticking off the mental list of attrocities that we’ve put these kids through over the last two days, while my eldest daughter is texting me and telling me all that’s going down at the bus station! 

She went with my husband, to lend a hand for the three travelers.  The text I received first was, “uhhh Mom? I think Dad’s gonna’ get in a fight!” Apparantly, between being abused by US AIR, with no refunds, waiting in lines for the last two days to get our kids, … NOWHERE… and then finding out there was No guarantee for these kids on THAT BUS, he pretty much BLEW- when someone tried to cut in front of them in line!

He went up to those people and ordered them to go to the back of the line! Wait- it keeps getting better here… my daughter saw him losing control, and walked up to her father and said the words, “Dad, would you like me to call the Police over here?”  He said “YES!”  She texts me, and tells me, “MOM- I have to find the POLICE in a hurry!”  and don’t you know- she DID? 

She actually called me at this point, telling me the ordeal, and that she was ‘worried about DAD,’ while watching the officer approach my husband and the ‘cutters,’ she says to me, “Hang on, I need to enjoy this!”  I hear all kinds of commotion on my end, while she’s giggling into the phone, and he’s irate!  It turns out, the officer did the right  thing and it was the ‘end of the line for THEM!” Hmph!!

Due to those people leaving the line, MY KIDS got on that bus.

I’m writing this at 4:30 PM on the 28th of Dec, and they JUST ARRIVED in NYC!  That’s a lotta’ travelin’ for little people in a short period of time! Needless to say, they did what I’ve taught them to do, their entire lives, and that is to ‘make it work!’

Here’s the NATIONAL STORY from CNBC:http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21134540/vp/40817805#40817805

Hope your holiday was a bit more calm than ours!