A Weary Traveler

Doug and I decided yesterday that we would try to get an earlier flight if possible.  I was tired from the past ten days and the flight we were scheduled on wouldn't arrive in Orlando until 8:30 making it a late night for both of us.  Brett and Karen had plans for the day and Cameron was studying for his ICORE finals, so there was really no reason for us to stay in Southern Indiana any longer.  

I had tried multiple times over the past few weeks to change our flight and thought that with the government shut down, it would be easier to schedule a different departure but had no luck.  Fortunately, that changed at 12:30 a.m. when I woke up out of a dead sleep.  Changing our flights must have been on my mind as I had just gone to bed at 11 p.m.  Even though I was slightly disoriented, I was still coherent enough to look at the Southwest app and find earlier flights for Doug and I.  Normally, I would only be able to list us as stand-by passengers, but with the changes to the Southwest schedules since the government shutdown, they allowed me to pick an earlier flight without charging us any fees.  I was thrilled and chose the 9:45 a.m. flight before going back to bed.  

Doug didn't know anything about the changes in flights until I woke him up at 6 a.m. this morning.  He was happy to hear that we would be leaving early as he was ready to spend a day at home as well.  The only downside to our change was that we had C boarding passes and wouldn't get to sit together.  It was an easy flight, so that didn't matter and as an upside we were able to check our bags for free.  All of it was worth it to be home by lunch time today.  For me this wasn't about getting back from a ten-day trip but more of taking a long break from traveling after constantly being on the go since June.  I needed some time to rest and relax before going anywhere outside of Florida anytime soon.

Another positive about getting home early was that Meg and Nick stopped by on their way home from Tampa.  Meg was finally able to give me the birthday gift that she had been talking about all week.  It was a handmade beaded plant that she had worked on for a month.  I absolutely loved it and appreciate all of the work that she put into it.  It fit my title of "crazy plant lady" well.  Nick surprised me with a gift as well - a glass chicken from his Grandpa Leroy's collection.  It was awesome and even had room for a tealight for a fun nightlight ambiance. My final gift was from Doug - Tom Petty's Wildflowers vinyl.  What a wonderful way to end an awesome birthday celebration.