Yes, It Really Was That Bad!

Thursday, we got to the airport in plenty of time for our4:20 flight. We were ecstatic to find out that our six seats were scattered though out the plane. Really? Who's the lucky person who gets to sit next to my autistic 9 year-old? Please remember to take him to the bathroom frequently. We waited at the gate for about an hour because Detroit was stormy. We finally got on the plane only to wait on the tarmac for over three hours.

When the time passed for our connecting flight to leave, my husband made a reservation for a hotel in Detroit. We finally arrived in Detroit at 10:00pm. I waited in an endless line to find out about my checked bag, only to find out that it would stay at the airport.

The one bag we checked had all my clothes, toiletries and most of William's. Fabulous. My husband tried to call the hotel for over an hour while we waited for a shuttle bus. We gave up and moved to the taxi line. We made it to front of the line. "Please be a van!" I chanted to myself. No, no, no, no. One arrived only to be put out that we weren't going very far. I told the kids to get in the van because I wasn't waiting any longer for anything else.

"It's dark over there." The driver said a couple of times.

"What does that even mean?" I wondered.

We arrived in that section of town only to see that indeed it was dark-- because all the electricity was out. The driver drove into different parking lots, muttering angerly, as we scanned the signs looking for the right hotel.

We found the hotel. Obviously, they weren't answering their phones because they didn't work. The shuttle buses weren't running because they had been sent out to buy glow sticks; which, naturally, ran out before we got there. My husband checked us in. I hoped for a low floor. When he finished I asked him what level. I thought he said two and I was pretty excited. We followed a guy up a few flights of stairs. "What floor are we on?" I asked again as William and I fell further and further behind the group. I tried to hurry Will up the stairs with only a trickle of light to guide us. But he was only going to move as fast as he was going to move.

"Seven." He called down to me.

We schlepped the kids, the suitcases, the backpacks and assorted crap up seven flights of stairs to our dark, hot hotel room where William was now wide awake. It was after midnight and all I wanted to do was sleep.

"Mom bed sit. Dad bed sit." Will requested. Fine.

"Fall asleep." I chanted. "And don't wet the bed!"

I dreamed twice that I took Will to the bathroom. In the morning I sent my husband downstairs to see if they were serving breakfast. "The power is off." He protested.

"They'll still have something." I insisted.

He agreed to go after a quick, dark shower. "Ohhh." I heard him say. A while later he came out. "There isn't any hot water." I knew I was wearing the same clothes for a second day so I didn't have a choice. I took a refreshing shower. Bri takes long showers regardless of water temperature. She even washed and conditioned her hair.

My husband brought up three bottle of apple juice. "Breakfast is ready." He announced.

....