Boundary County

We left on Christmas Day. What a great day to travel! There was a long line at security at LAX but otherwise the airport was quiet and our plane left on time. It was another picture-perfect day in LA, the kind that makes you question why you're leaving town, and as the plane took off, we flew over our favorite place, the bike path on the beach. I looked longingly at it, wishing we could have had enough time in the day to have taken a ride before heading off to the airport. But I was grateful to have been able to see Dad and have a moment with Laura and Kyle at the house before the cab came to fetch us.

Our first stop was Salt Lake City. It seemed out-of-the way for a trip to Spokane. Our lay-over wasn't long and we took one of those little shuttles to our gate. I was glad we did because when we got there, the airline had given us the wrong gate information for our connection, and the shuttle driver had to take us most of the way back to get to our real gate. Those folks in Salt Lake were very serious about leaving on time. And, to be quite honest, I made a complete idiot of myself.

Since you are immuno-suppressed, I take sanitizing wipes and wipe down all of our seats, armrests, buttons and tray tables before you sit down. This time I went ahead of you to do that deed before you got on the plane. When I was finished, I sat down and waited for you to board. It made sense to me that you didn't want to have to wait in a line to get to your seat. But suddenly there were no more people boarding the plane and you were nowhere in sight. The flight attendants were starting to make announcements, everyone was seated, and you were not on yet. I jumped out of my seat. I tried calling you on my cell phone but my hands were clumsily missing ever third button. I had quickly moved into panic mode. I headed up the aisle, excusing myself, darting around people, zipping up to the front of the plane. dialing, misdialing, my hands now visibly shaking. Had you changed your mind? Were you sitting out at the gate lost in thought----or thinking that you still had plenty of time? I dialed and dialed; it was like a bad dream. Finally I was at the front of the plane. I scurried up to the head flight attendant. Breathless, I said, "My husband is supposed to be on the plane. He's at the gate. We can't leave without him. I have to go find him." She looked at me and said, "We still have fifteen minutes." And then, just then, you came strolling down the jetway. "Is that yours?" she asked.