I went to work that Wednesday morning, worked until noon, had lunch with a friend and then went home to finish packing and load up the car. Michael and I left the house at 2:00 and went to fuel up and get the car washed. We needed to be to the airport by 3:30 and so we were right on track. At about 2:20 my dad calls up SCREAMING. "STACE! I missed the plane!!" and then went on to scream at me for booking him on this flight.
What he forgets is that we CHOSE this flight because it fit his budget.
So he screams, yells and screams some more and then tells me to hold on only to come back on the line and say "Okay, I didn't miss the flight". Insert nervous laughter and we're good. I tell him to call me when he's on the ground and we're off. Mom texts that her flight is going to be ten minutes late. No big deal and we're heading to the airport.
At 2:45 dad calls again. "We are de-planing!" he yells. Why? Because there is a "smell" on the plane. Now I'm a little tense. He has no idea when they will re-board or when he will be landing. I'm already on my way to the airport and mom still has to be met so onward we go. I call my sister and leave her a SCATHING voice mail because, after all, she was the one who told me it would be no big deal to pick up BOTH of our parents. We park, tour the terminal and meet mom as she comes down to baggage claim. We walk around some more, go for coffee and head over to dad's terminal and try to get an update. Long story short, he's going to be a total of 90 minutes late.
I am SO NOT AMUSED. I am a stickler for planning and staying on task and leaving 90 minutes later means hitting rush our traffic on the interstate, longer hours of driving in the dark and getting to the hotel later and I've been up since 3:30 in the morning. Why? No one knows!
We finally get dad and head off. The drive was fine. Long, but fine. Our hotel was BEAUTIFUL. Thank you Holiday Inn Express. I slept like a baby. We left early the next morning to get on to the Parris Island base and got pulled for a car inspection. I "thought" that I had all of my paperwork on mom's side of the car and when she said it wasn't there...well, I sort of lost my mind a little. Then had to eat crow when I realized it was on MY side of the car. It happens. We got through inspection, got to where we needed to go, had GREAT seats and when we were finally permitted to get our Marine, we got to him first.
We spent the day touring the ENTIRE campus of Parris Island - apparently my nephew wanted us to feel a little more fit than we actually were - and we must have walked about 3 miles! In 80 degree weather. It was amazing to see the transformation in him. I was so proud of him and most of the time I couldn't help but look at him and grin like an idiot. 
Family dinner that night at some ridiculous restaurant that was not my choice and WAY out of my budget but thankfully my parents helped with the bill. Friday morning we were up and out of the hotel early and back on base for graduation. AMAZING ceremony. No other way to describe it. We had great seats again and really, well, let's just say I wish that everyone in our 22 person entourage took being on time seriously. The service was over by 10, we took a TON of pictures, went back to my sister's B&B because I wanted my portrait of Justin that she forgot to bring, we said our goodbye's, stopped at Chick-Fil-A for lunch and were on the road by 12:30 and home by 5:30. Quick and painless, friends. Quick and painless. All of your prayers certainly worked and I thank you!
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