Thursday - a day of anticipation. Helen surprised us by finding the cheapest plane tickets and visiting us for two full days (Friday and Saturday). Of course she checked with us first whether it was ok to arrive Richmond Airport just after midnight leaving her place late Thursday afternoon with a plane change in Atlanta. Yes, we were all excited.
In the morning I met Sarah with her boys at her workplace to bring the children to their camp in Henricus. In that time James and William wanted to take a walk around the neighborhood. But it didn't last long. The boy must have grown over night because his toes hit the front in the shoes and hurt. No question. He outgrew that pair.
When I was back we looked into the matter. He really would have liked the same pair. Just bigger. What did we do before google? Who sells these Nikes? The first shop was not a success. But in the second shop we found a Nike pair very similar but 1 1/2 sizes larger. He was happy.
We celebrated by going to Pho Saigon on the way home. He likes pho. We each emptied our large bowls.
I can't quite remember but I think William and I picked up his cousins from camp and brought them to their home.
Not being very hungry in the evening after a large lunch anyway we just nibbled. Can you believe it? This boy loves raw veggies. He eats them with ranch dressing or hummus but does not like them cooked in his meals. Except for spinach he is right of course that they are much healthier that way.
And then the waiting. William watched the plane on a tracker when it finally (delayed) had taken off.
There would have been enough lay-over time for Helen to catch the next plane but ...
A delay when you are traveling is not nice but it got worse. Of course when there came one of the sparce announcements it was always a different reason until finally: her flight got cancelled. A missing / not shown up pilot.
At least a couple of hours standing still in a long line, almost at the end of it if your seat was in the back of the plane. Very unfriendly and unhelpful staff at the gate counter, not really trying to find a good alternative flight for you, especially not with another airline. Finally she was scheduled for a flight to Washington Dulles Airport (not further to Richmond) and waitlisted for the same but a bit earlier. It was after midnight by now and they gave her vouchers for a bottom-grade hotel miles away without a shuttle and vouchers for food but everything at Atlanta Airport was closed by now. She wandered around in the airport (no sleeping) until she finally could board flight. At least it was the earlier where she was standby.
Of course William could not fall sleep with us doing the texting and telephoning with Helen until there was finally a decision what was going to happen. James and I did not get much sleep either.
Friday - Early in the morning we had already one visitor on our door (actually side window): Freddy!
And then the three of us were on our way. I-95 is famous for having bad traffic especially around Fredericksburg and of course it lived up to its reputation. On top of it several times the rain came down so hard that it was hard to see and of course that slowed everything down even more. But we were very happy when we got the text 'landed" and we were on our way home.
All Helen wanted was have a shower, get the "after-trip-arrival" soup which I had prepared and have a short nap. The cousins (nephews) were eager to come. It was a bit difficult to keep the 4 quiet but they had fun. We mainly played "hide the thimble". It was their idea. In plain sight. It was my mother's thimble.
When it got a bit too noisy we decided to take the help of the TV in our bedroom.
When we thought it would be ok for her to wake up they were actually waiting on the stairs. How sweet is that?
When Helen came down refreshed there was a big HELLO of course. And all were eager to go for at least a little walk in the neighborhood. It had rained very recently and the puddles were tempting. No problem.
Sarah came after work too to great her sister and be with her. We did Chinese take-out. We had enlarged the table and it was so nice to be around a table like that after too long of time. When Sarah had to leave with her boys they gave Helen a great big hug.
It was not quite the full day Helen had hoped for but we counted our blessings that at least we had this nice time.
We had to sort out who sleeps where and also where/how Helen can set up to teach her class Saturday morning.
And after some chatting we all fell into bed.
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