Ode to the Lone Mom

On Tuesday of this week I drove my husband and his colleagues to the airport at 4:30 in the morning...talk about a great start to 9 DAYS of bleak loneliness and the longest business trip ever! (Well...not too bleak and lonely thanks to my awesome in-laws!). Then 24-hours later I was on my way to the airport myself for a spontaneous trip home to Colorado. Just me and my little Anne girl. And 500 lbs of her stuff.

Bought the tickets at 10:30 PM, started the laundry at 11:00, packed until 2:30 in the morning, and then we were out the door by 6:00 for the craziest adventure I've had in a long time. And nobody knew I was coming. The thrill!

And the TERROR! Just imagine: one roller, one duffel, one diaper bag, one car seat + base, one squirmy baby, and only TWO HANDS. I had no clue how I was going to do this. Thanks to a superman father-in-law I had help getting to check-in where I dumped two of those aforementioned things (not the baby). Yet, even checking in wasn't without it's drama. Word to the new mama: yes lap-infants fly free, but you have to add them to your ticket as you're buying it. DUHHHHH! #rookiemom strikes again!! Thanks Southwest for not turning me away.

3 hours of sleep

Librarian Glasses

Baby who hates her carrier

...Here we go....

Even though I was down to a roller, diaper bag, and baby all it took was Annie deciding she didn't want to be in her carrier anymore for everything to come undone. Now I was a spectacle with a squirmy baby in one hand and the roller, diaper bag, coat, and carrier in the other hand... and blankets EVERYWHERE! All this while trying to pull out my license and boarding pass, get through the gate, put everything on the conveyor belt, oh and take off my shoes, get through the metal detector, have my hands swiped for anthrax, put my shoes back on, get all my stuff back together...without ever taking my hands off of my baby!!! .....deep breath... you're sweating, but you're going to get through this.

After making a couple of stops to rearrange some things, or just to sit because I was winded, we finally made it to our gate at the VERY END OF THE AIRPORT. (Whyyyy?). And Annie starts fussing. Then crying. Then wailing. She's so tired but there's too much stimulation to fall asleep. And I just know that every person in that gate area is thinking: "oh man I hope I don't have to sit by THAT girl on the plane." Yeah, sorry ahead of time folks.

We finally board, and thanks to family boarding I got a decent aisle seat with a nice lady who LOVES babies sitting at the window. And nobody risked taking that middle seat. "Ahhhhhh" *angels singing* Even more miraculous was that Annie conked out once the plane took off and slept the whole time. Sigh. Miracles do still happen!

It was after we landed that the real trouble began. Getting to baggage claim wasn't an issue but now I had no Superman father-in-law to help me with the extra 500lbs of stuff. Plus I was surprising my family so I had nobody coming to pick me up. This was me walking around the airport:

Then I got one of those cart things. Best $5 bucks I've ever spent. Though I did look a little like this:

I ended up renting a car which meant lugging the cart outside while holding baby, getting all my stuff on the shuttle while holding baby, getting off, into the rental building, and through a 30 min. line all while...you got it...holding baby. When I finally got into the car I leaned back, heaved a deep sigh of relief, and offered a prayer of sheer gratitude and amazement that we'd lived through it all.

Annie: "Are we there yet!?"

I've got to give a big thanks to all of those random strangers that helped me along the way. I literally could not have done it without them. The nice man from Albuquerque that helped me get through security, the mom that was sympathetic and encouraging as I tried to comfort my wailing child, the nice African man who helped me load and unload bags from the shuttle, the kind Asian gentleman that offered to hold my spot in that enormous rental line. So many helpful people! Faith in humanity: Restored!

I also want to send good vibes, all the love that I possess, and an Ode of Extreme Admiration to all of the lone traveling moms out there. You are awesome. Push through the craziness! You will make it and it will be so worth the hassle, the heavy lifting, the wails, the embarrassment, the sweat and tears, the aches and pains. You is STRONG. You is SMART. You is AMAZING!

And at the end of the day, it really was SO worth it! So many happy surprises! The two little girls were shocked when Annie and I opened the door for them when they came home from school. My favorite was my mom walking into the house to find a baby on a blanket in the middle of the family room. I'm so sneaky! Then we surprised my dad at work and I'd be lying if I said I didn't tear up a little bit. I'd do it all over again (though probably better planned out). Because this is what it's all about people, this is what it's all about!

#Travel #Luggage #FamilyAdventures #Annie