Erin and Kristin,

I'm going to try to make this quick....About a year ago, my husband's aunt died unexpectedly. As such, I had to make last minute flight reservation from Austin, Texas to Newark, New Jersey for myself and my two children: 5 year old daughter and 2 1/2 year old son. My husband was away on business travel and arranged to meet us in New Jersey. I had to book a flight that left early in the am (6:30 or 7am) with a connecting flight in Atlanta.

I woke up early, got the car packed, and the kids together. We got on the plane (near the rear), and I noticed the rear bathrooms were out of order. My son didn't want to wear his seatbelt (he's 2 1/2) during takeoff. I was involved in this very undignified screaming and wrestling match (likely remniscent of the kid who got kicked off the flight just recently). (I know there's an option to bring a carseat, but I couldn't handle the kids, the luggage, and carseats while traveling alone and having to make a connecting flight). (Footnote, the "good" flight attendants will politely assume your child is under the age of two and allow them to sit in your lap rather than deal with the wrestling match. Why they allow babies not to be buckled and not 2 1/2 year olds is beyond me). Eventually we take off.

Uh oh. Turbulence...(and the seatbelt light)... That alone wasn't bad. My four year old needed to go potty pretty much immediately (she hadn't had the morning bm yet). Remember the rear bathrooms were out of order. I had to go forward all the way to first class carrying the two and half year old while bouncing around pretty well. The flight attendant in the rear reprimanded me. Upon reaching the front bathroom, I couldn't squeeze all three of us in with the turbulence (I can do this on a calm flight), and my four year old didn't want to be in the potty alone. I then sat on the floor in front of the potty with the 2 1/2 year old straddling me while I used my feet to keep the door open (so my daughter could see me) but not to far open b/c the first class passengers weren't all that pleased to see us in first place and really didn't need to see her taking a bm. Did I mention I mention we had to sit there a while... So, of course the flight attendant in the front had to harrass me. That was the first flight.

The second flight was small airplane. Each row of seats only had two seats on either side of the aisle. I felt like Sophie in "Sophie's Choice". Who do I choose to sit with me? Really, it was a no brainer. I couldn't put my son in a row by himself. My daughter wailed, and we held hands across the aisle during takeoff. Then there was the fever. Yes, 103 by my daughter mid-flight. PO'd by being left abandoned by me, she refused to take medicine (Don't you carry children's advil in your purse?). That flight eventually ended...

Upon arrival, I saw my husband animately waving outside on the curbside pick up while we were walking in some overhead corridor. I waved and promptly walked downstairs to the exact spot where my husband had been waving. There was no husband for minutes. I finally make a curt cell phone call to him while we wait shivering (and feverish) on the curbside. My husband finds us, and I growl at him, and he is simply at a loss at to why I am cranky, and oh, wouldn't be fun to drive into the city now and take the kids to the Comic Con at the convention center. To this day, he doesn't understand why I thought that was a bad idea.

Gotta go. Another quick note. My son is sick. I wanted to make my team meeting this morning. I manage a team of about 15 people. I ran the meeting with him sitting in my lap playing quietly with his spinning head spiderman. He stayed quiet for the entire half hour.

Later -
Jill
Austin, Texas