The Waiting Is The Hardest Part

Most of the time I have a reputation for being pretty patient. This was not something that was acquired overnight. Between waiting out family court sessions (which in some cases could take all day), getting stuck in airports-my former record of 8 hours was topped just recently when I ended up spending close to 10 hours, OVERNIGHT in the Philly airport (which plays this deafening terrible musak over and over 24/7), or just simply waiting for everyday things-lines, parking spaces etc.

Currently I am waiting for the Family Clerk person to come back from lunch so I can file a motion for something pertaining to the case I have going on right now. The actual filing will most likely take all of 5 minutes and had I been led that way to begin with I wouldn't be writing this now, but rather sailing on home with all my Westchseter errands run for the day. Alas, lunch occurs and here I wait-as usual, again. On the plus side they have Wi-Fi!

My whole life is a waiting game-John Lennon once wrote "life is what happens when we're busy making other plans" and this is so true. My children's childhood-at least most of it-flew by while my ex was working on his plans. That is the hardest thing for me to get past-even Gabby-my youngest-despite losing her father has had a normal life. That is all I ever wanted for my children-a normal life. It's starting to finally happen-now we once again wait, and wait...and see.

All Good Things Must Come To An End....

Star Wars Love Through Generations

Today I had a unique experience of displaying my son's knowledge to people who actually GOT it. I did a filming session for the "Star Wars Stories" project-my story was explaining how when Orion had to be away from me, we agreed to watch Episode V at 7pm so it was like we were watching it together. I explained how much he loved Star Wars and became an expert at knowledge on it. Linda, the producer, requested I run and grab Orion, so I did and they interviewed him for almost an hour! They did make the mistake of asking him to describe his favorite scene from Episode V (which he did.....in great detail...the Battle Of Hoth.....30 minutes later......) but they were impressed with his articulation, vocabulary and general comfort speaking. She quizzed him on several things about Clone Wars etc and he answered them all -stumbling on one but figuring out the answer after thinking awhile.

What Linda found amazing was how connected Orion and I are through Star Wars-obviously I love space-my children's names gave that away. He was mentioning how he loves all the collectors toys but understands they are expensive etc. They told me it was the highlight of their day. It was a great moment that I am sure Orion will remember the rest of his life.

Gabby had a great moment herself with an R5:

Rory and Kyrsten busied themselves with an art class taught by Randy Martinez-Rory drew a damn fine Yoda and Boba Fett. Orion, prior to his memorable filming session, had enjoyed a couple of hours in the gaming room (a former co-worker was in the room, so he said he could stay-and he did and enjoyed some cool games) which left Gabby and I to our own devices. This resulted in a fun time in the Droid Room, where we were photo bombed by Darth Vader himself-see the pictures they were taken within seconds of each other I realized from the sound Darth Vader was behind me-literally 3 inches from me-I turned and said "Hey" and didn't flinch. My guess is he slipped in through the door on the back left.

Today was definitely a productive day on my kid's memories. Gabby, in particular, loves having her picture taken and has absolutely no fear of the various menagerie of aliens, formidable Siths, Bounty Hunters and Sand People. She and I spent so much time in the Droid Room. If you went soley by my pictures, you would think just Gabby and I went-she loves the camera and loves people-fortunately the feeling is mutual. I got her and Jeff together-which cracks me up since he is around 6'5". Kudos to him too-he spent the day hanging out with me and 4 kids in a place full of women who share his interests. I made sure to call him my cousin every chance I got so they knew he was just that. He enjoyed himself-getting a kick out of Gabbarazzi!

All in all a productive day. The Glasgow girl that Orion charmed last evening at the hotel pool wasn't there this evening, however we had gotten her name last night so Orion friended her on his Facebook. Go Orion!

Wrapping up the convention tomorrow and then some R&R before heading home on Monday, which God willing will NOT be another crazy adventure like our arrival here! Hopefully all flights go well!

May the force be with you!

"But Mommy....he wasn't ALWAYS bad......"

Reason #501 on why we love Gabby:

Star Wars-Day 1 Friday August 13th, 2010

I am amazed at the immediate silence that fell promptly after tucking in my children and their friend-they were exhausted.

And for a good reason-we walked like maniacs today! The convention itself-had I brought my Pedometer I would know but I am thinking we easily did 4 miles-perhaps more.

So I am tired, but today-starting out with us waking up to the endless cruel blaring of the Philly Airport's Muzak system-was hectic to say the least and non-stop. We did squeak some pool time in where Orion found out something-girls like goofy. Especially Scottish girls visiting from Glasgow who find a nerdy, geeky Star Wars wisdom spouting bespeckled lad very interesting indeed. She asked about his Facebook page. I told him that would be fun having a friend in Scotland. He loved her accent and the fact she tossed him into the pool just as quickly as he tossed her in. Sassy!

Will write a more detailed version after I catch up on sleep.

Live In The Sky

In-flight internet-how sweet is THAT? Waiting for Mark to sign on to FB chat so we can talk. This flight took off at the proper time-whew! So we are on our way to Orlando, scheduled to land by 9:15AM-we will then shuttle on over to the Radisson, dump our stuff into our room, get cleaned up, changed etc and FINALLY get to Celebration V. It is a long journey and probably the weirdest trip I have ever had-however the kids are handling it very well considering the circumstances-in fact I think they handled it better than most of the adults.

Plans for the day are to get to the convention and hang out there for a few hours, return to the hotel, make use of the indoor swimming pool, get back upstairs-chill out and maybe make that party I was told about. We'll see how it pans out.

Trapped In Philly

First rule of travel-2 words: Direct Flight.

I am currently coming to you live from Gate B9 in the Philidelphia Airport. I will be here for at least 7 more hours, as the boarding starts at 6:15AM. I assure you my being here was not done on purpose.

How it happened: I had a flight scheduled from Bradley International slated for 7:05, with a connecting flight in Charlotte, NC around 10:15. Sure I would get to Orlando, FL late-but Radisson has late check in and I was all set on this end.

But then Murphy and his pesky law decided that this would be too easy. So, my flight from Bradley was delayed by 3 hours. I would never make my connecting Charlotte flight. Scott F., the friendly US Airways guy worked his magic, slinking me on to a flight to Philidelphia, with a connection from there to Orlando. Every flight mind you was being delayed at this point. We arrive to Philly and breathlessly book it to Gate B11 from B5-our plane landed at 8:20-with the connecting flight leaving at 8:35. Once we reached the gate we discovered that our connecting flight left ON TIME-apparently the ONLY flight to do so this evening. I am in a wonder of the logic of sending off a plan barely half full with the people who were connecting to it trapped on late planes. Had they waited a mere 15 minutes-90% of the connection people would have made the flight. But according to the very beleagured attendent-FAA rules no longer allow a captain to hold a plane unless they are waiting for crew. So even if the Captain wanted to-he couldn't run over on time. Our Flight Attendent even had his Captain call and I know he tried but could do nothing to hold the plane.

After recovering from hyperventilating at the thought of spending the evening in an airport with 4 children-3 mine, one my friend Adel's daughter (incidentally Rory's best buddy), I stood in line for over an hour to get 5 meal vouchers (totalling $50)-I can get another $50 in the morning too-I finally got the kids fed and we decided we would rough it out. A kindly matainence man came by with a carton of airplane pillows and those silver emergency blankets (which do keep one warm-but they wrinkle and crinkle and squeak everytime one breathes) so I rearranged the waiting seats and tucked in 4 kids-reluctantly marooned at Philly Airport.

This would be a challenge to begin with-but wait it gets better! Apparently there is this God AWFUL muzak piping into the place-seriously-I feel like I am trapped in a large elevator.

On the happy side-when I went to use my $10 voucher at Au Bon Pain I had collected a couple of pastries on my tray. I was chatting with the woman-who was also the night manager (a 24 Hour Au Bon Pain-not too bad!) and once she discovered I was stranded with 4 kids-she handed me a pastry box and said -go nuts as she took my voucher. Oh the calories that will be had!

So if the flight leaves on time tomorrow at 6:45AM (boarding at 6:15AM)-we will arrive in Orlando by 9AM-I am already checked into the hotel-so we can go there and clean up then head up to Star Wars-hopefully the adreneline of being there will keep us through the day. I figure we can stay until the afternoon tomorrow and head back to the hotel, nap, swim, whatever and then head to the party I was told about. It won't be all THAT bad.

I do know without a doubt that I am not the only one NOT getting sleep this evening-there is no way Adel will knowing her daughter is camping out in an airport. I suspect Mark won't be getting much sleep either-he was very worried about me-at one point I couldn't answer the phone since I was settling down the kids-he was so upset! Thank God I packed some DVDs and my laptop can handle them! Goodfellas coming up next!

Well-hopefully this is the worst of it. We board in the morning and off we go! My next post will hopefully be full of Star Wars goodness!

P.S I really want to "borrow" one of those security cars and zoom around this joint tonight!