Weather Heroes come through in storm
Winter 2013 both of my girls came home from their university to spend their winter break with me. Their break was almost for a month. My youngest goes to Loyola University in Chicago. The great thing about her University is it isn’t too far away from home. But my oldest goes to The University of California Los-Angeles (UCLA). Now she comes home twice a year. When both of my girls are home it’s like having a holiday every day. We enjoy each day we have together and cherish each moment. Before we knew it, it was time for my girls to go back to their universities. My oldest daughter flight was on Jan 5 2014. I knew the weather was about to change and we were getting lots of snow and the temperature was dropping more and more. Her flight was at 12:30 pm. The day her flight was we kept checking if the flight was delayed or canceled until 10 am but it was kept showing, “On time”.
Her flight was from Champaign (CMI) to O’Hare (Chicago) and then from O’hare to Los-Angeles (LAX). Due to the bad weather I didn't want to drive in my small car. So I asked my dear friend Thomas T Tuttle to drive, since he has a truck. We are very grateful to Tom. Her flight wasn’t delayed or canceled. But as soon as boarding started and we said good bye to her, we decided to leave and were hoping at this point there was no way they would cancel or delay the flight. No, they did. On our way home she called and said her flight has been delayed for 2 hours. There was no point for us to go back to the airport in the bad weather. Why couldn't they announce this earlier? I was very frustrated. First, I hated the separation part from my daughter and now she was at the airport waiting and I was home. I was worried and was feeling really bad because I couldn’t do anything. I was blaming myself, why didn’t I stay longer at the airport until her flight left. But I knew there was nothing I could do to change anything. But as a mother I wanted to protect her and make sure she was okay. At 2:45 pm she texted me, “We’re moving”. I felt a little bit relief but still worried about what was going to happen to her connected flight. There was no way she could make it to her 3:45 flight. I was home safe and warm but was very uncomfortable and worried for her.
Finally an hour later she made it safely to O’hare airport but couldn’t get off the airplane because there was no place for the plane to park. The airport was a mess due to the bad weather. While she was sitting in the airplane and was waiting the pilot announced, “At this the point you have already missed your flight so now it’s first come first serve.” When I got her text about this I thought for sure she would spend her night at the airport. The weather was getting worse and worse and lots of flights were getting canceled. Finally she got off the plane and ran to her connected flight. Here at home, just in case I went online and started searching for any flights for her the next day. But shortly after she called and said, “I got the 5:30 pm flight”. I couldn’t believe it.
She barely made it on time. The boarding started right away and she was very happy and relieved. After saying good-bye to her on the phone I hung-up. Fifteen minutes later she texted me, “We haven’t moved yet”. Once again I started worrying. And was thinking, now what? Her plane didn’t move for another 45 minutes but then at 6:15 pm they announced, "We are now deicing the plane". At this point I was so sure there was no way she would make it today. The weather was absolutely horrible. Shortly after she texted, “We are moving”. I was so happy. At 10:24 pm I got a text from her, “Hi mom I just landed in LA”. I can’t describe how relieved I was. She made it.
The next morning when I was sitting in my kitchen table and drinking my chai, I was looking through my kitchen window and the only thing I saw was snow all over. My mind couldn’t stop think about yesterday, I was feeling so blessed how lucky my daughter was. How many things could have gone wrong yesterday but besides her flight being delayed she made it to her destination the same day and safely. As a mother yes, I was worried but I am feeling so grateful, how many kids and people’s flight must have gotten canceled and they had to spend night/nights at the airport. How tired and frustrated they must have been. Things could always be worse but when we are going through a situation it seem overwhelming and stressful but later when you look back it, it didn’t feel that bad but rather grateful to God.
My daughter made it safely LA. She doesn’t have deal to with snow or low temperature and I was at home warm and safe too. But there were a lot of people out there who were stuck in the snow/bad weather. What about them? I am truly thankful to every single person who was out there helping others such as first responders, health care workers, police, emergency crews, mail currier and many more people, they are out there helping others and making sure others are okay and are doing their job in this awful temperature. Hats off to those people!
Winter 2013 both of my girls came home from their university to spend their winter break with me. Their break was almost for a month. My youngest goes to Loyola University in Chicago. The great thing about her University is it isn’t too far away from home. But my oldest goes to The University of California Los-Angeles (UCLA). Now she comes home twice a year. When both of my girls are home it’s like having a holiday every day. We enjoy each day we have together and cherish each moment. Before we knew it, it was time for my girls to go back to their universities. My oldest daughter flight was on Jan 5 2014. I knew the weather was about to change and we were getting lots of snow and the temperature was dropping more and more. Her flight was at 12:30 pm. The day her flight was we kept checking if the flight was delayed or canceled until 10 am but it was kept showing, “On time”.
Her flight was from Champaign (CMI) to O’Hare (Chicago) and then from O’hare to Los-Angeles (LAX). Due to the bad weather I didn't want to drive in my small car. So I asked my dear friend Thomas T Tuttle to drive, since he has a truck. We are very grateful to Tom. Her flight wasn’t delayed or canceled. But as soon as boarding started and we said good bye to her, we decided to leave and were hoping at this point there was no way they would cancel or delay the flight. No, they did. On our way home she called and said her flight has been delayed for 2 hours. There was no point for us to go back to the airport in the bad weather. Why couldn't they announce this earlier? I was very frustrated. First, I hated the separation part from my daughter and now she was at the airport waiting and I was home. I was worried and was feeling really bad because I couldn’t do anything. I was blaming myself, why didn’t I stay longer at the airport until her flight left. But I knew there was nothing I could do to change anything. But as a mother I wanted to protect her and make sure she was okay. At 2:45 pm she texted me, “We’re moving”. I felt a little bit relief but still worried about what was going to happen to her connected flight. There was no way she could make it to her 3:45 flight. I was home safe and warm but was very uncomfortable and worried for her.
Finally an hour later she made it safely to O’hare airport but couldn’t get off the airplane because there was no place for the plane to park. The airport was a mess due to the bad weather. While she was sitting in the airplane and was waiting the pilot announced, “At this the point you have already missed your flight so now it’s first come first serve.” When I got her text about this I thought for sure she would spend her night at the airport. The weather was getting worse and worse and lots of flights were getting canceled. Finally she got off the plane and ran to her connected flight. Here at home, just in case I went online and started searching for any flights for her the next day. But shortly after she called and said, “I got the 5:30 pm flight”. I couldn’t believe it.
She barely made it on time. The boarding started right away and she was very happy and relieved. After saying good-bye to her on the phone I hung-up. Fifteen minutes later she texted me, “We haven’t moved yet”. Once again I started worrying. And was thinking, now what? Her plane didn’t move for another 45 minutes but then at 6:15 pm they announced, "We are now deicing the plane". At this point I was so sure there was no way she would make it today. The weather was absolutely horrible. Shortly after she texted, “We are moving”. I was so happy. At 10:24 pm I got a text from her, “Hi mom I just landed in LA”. I can’t describe how relieved I was. She made it.
The next morning when I was sitting in my kitchen table and drinking my chai, I was looking through my kitchen window and the only thing I saw was snow all over. My mind couldn’t stop think about yesterday, I was feeling so blessed how lucky my daughter was. How many things could have gone wrong yesterday but besides her flight being delayed she made it to her destination the same day and safely. As a mother yes, I was worried but I am feeling so grateful, how many kids and people’s flight must have gotten canceled and they had to spend night/nights at the airport. How tired and frustrated they must have been. Things could always be worse but when we are going through a situation it seem overwhelming and stressful but later when you look back it, it didn’t feel that bad but rather grateful to God.
My daughter made it safely LA. She doesn’t have deal to with snow or low temperature and I was at home warm and safe too. But there were a lot of people out there who were stuck in the snow/bad weather. What about them? I am truly thankful to every single person who was out there helping others such as first responders, health care workers, police, emergency crews, mail currier and many more people, they are out there helping others and making sure others are okay and are doing their job in this awful temperature. Hats off to those people!
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