Home Again - Home Again

Mindy sporting her Mt Hood shiner in the Minny airport Thinking of seeing her children Bestowing gifts from Oregon to her children 3:30am PST came around fast. However, because we managed our time wisely and didn’t overdo the drinking we felt fine. I was on the running trail by 3:55am. My run went well as I reflected on our 4.5 day trip. I wasn’t all that excited about returning home. I could have done at least one more day of skiing and perhaps another day of chillin’ in the city. I like doing both very much. On the other hand, Mindy, as one might expect, was ready to get home to her kids. I returned from my run at 4:30am. Mindy was just getting out of the shower. I jumped in. By 4:50am I was ready to go. I woke Glenn at 4:55am to shuttle us to the airport. I’d imagine this is the absolute worst part of our visits for brother Glenn. After all, he’s never been one to enjoy greeting the sunrise. As we made our way out the door, I peeked into brother Tommy’s room to bid him a due and a safe trip home. By 5:00am we were on our way to PDX. I remember thinking to myself how it seemed like just the other day I was in the same situation. Realistically, it was 86 days ago. We arrived at the airport at 5:22am. After a quick pic and a hug good-bye, our visit with Glenn was over. To our liking, there was effectively no wait in the Northwest Airlines line. In fact, we were confirmed, ticketed, and through security by 5:40am. We had an hour before our flight departed. We stopped at Wendy’s just down the way form our departing gate and enjoyed some fast breakfast food. By the time we finished eating and wandered to our gate they had begun boarding. Just as the sun was rising, although we couldn’t see it for the cloud cover, we took to the sky leaving an incredibly fun time behind. As it turned out, the ceiling was rather low. We broke through the clouds at approximately 4000’ to see blue skies and the top cone of Mt Hood basking in the sun. That was a beautiful sight in itself. Our flight to Minneapolis entailed a little reading and several naps. And with the tail wind it went relatively fast. We landed in Minny at 11:38am CST (2 hours ahead of Portland). Our air time was just short of 2 hrs and 45 minutes. We would have a 3.5 hr layover in Minny. Honestly, the layover wasn’t too bad. We shopped in the airport mall which is rather expansive and very new. We stopped at the food court where Mindy grabbed another bite to eat and where we played a round of Euchre. If my recollection is accurate, she won. After that we headed to our gate to relax and get in some reading. Before we knew it, they were boarding our plane for home. Whenever flying back east, the day goes so damn fast. The flight from Minny to Columbus is only 1 hour and 30 minutes of air time and goes equally fast. Mindy and I read the entire flight home making the time go even faster. We landed in Port Columbus at 5:40pm EST, about 10 minutes early. As we passed through the security gates we immediately came upon brother Bob who came directly from work to pick us up. Bob helped us with our luggage and gave us a ride to my home. I was a little nervous as to what condition I might find my place in. After all, I had entrusted daughter Ashley to care for my home and Ykraps in my absence, at least after Dad left town. It turns out, she was very responsible, or so it seemed. Nothing amiss, nothing broke, and nothing out of place. Thanks Bob. Thanks Ashley. Thanks Dad. Mindy didn’t stay long. She was excited to get home to her kids whom she hadn’t seen since Thursday morning, or 5.5 days. After she left I found myself suddenly alone for the first time in the same time period. Odd, it felt, and perhaps even a little sad. It didn’t last long though. I took to unpacking and getting everything ready for my return to normal life. That took about half an hour. By 7:30pm EST, I was relaxing in my easy chair with my book – just like the old days. Occasionally I’d take a break and stroke my guitar. My plan was to be in bed before 9:00pm. To ensure this, I buttoned up the house and turned off the downstairs at 8:30pm. In bed I would almost force myself to sleep, which is never to hard of a task. Good Night Moon!