Okay, so Saturday I got to the airport in Bangor, Maine to catch a flight connecting me to my next event, a Pastoral interview on Sunday morning at West Side Christian Church worship services in Springfield, Illinois. The idea was that I was going to catch a flight to Detroit, connect through Detroit and catch another flight to Saint Louis, and then a sweet couple in the Church were going to pick me up in Saint Louis, and drive the one-and-a-half hours to the hotel in Springfield. It was going to be a bit of a long trip, and it would get me in to Saint Louis around 10:00 pm, which would get me in to Springfield, Illinois pretty close to midnight, and that would be 1:00 in the morning my time, but that was the only option to be able to make the Church Services.
Well, it didn’t go as planned because of unfortunately, I hate to say it, but just some sheer lack of skill by the airport staff in Bangor. They allowed all of the bags to be loaded on to our flight, including people who were overbooked for the flight and not allowed to board. So, when everyone realized that there were three people who weren’t actually going to make the flight, they had to unload every bag in the cargo hold in order to get at those bags, take them off and then to reload the whole plane. That process delayed us by one hour and my connection to Saint Louis was only about a 45 minute connection in Detroit. So, I was biting my nails, and wouldn’t you know it, the flight departing Detroit was perfectly on time, and so they tried to make up some time in the air, but didn’t make up enough. I ran off the plane as fast as I could, having to run from one end of the Detroit airport to the other, which was exhausting and my heart was pounding, but I ran as fast as I could just-in-time to see the aircraft pull away from the gate. I had missed it by 90 seconds.
Now, suddenly it wasn’t going to be so easy to get to Springfield, Illinois. By now, it was 8 O’clock at night, and there were no more direct flights for Saint Louis and very few options. All the other regional airports near Springfield Illinois were closed. We tried to find a possible train service that could get me into Springfield, Illinois or somewhere close, but all the trains left in the morning. I had to be at the Church at 7 O’clock in the morning in order to be able to do a microphone check, and do the interview on stage of the Pastor for the 8 a.m. Service. So, what to do?
We finally realized that if I took another flight to Chicago that there was another flight from a different airline leaving Chicago and getting to Saint Louis at near midnight. So, this sweet couple that originally had been intending to pick me up at Saint Louis around ten at night, said that they were willing to get me at midnight, and drive through the night, about 110-120 miles to drop me off in my hotel in Springfield at 2:00 in the morning.
They were already at the airport in St. Louis and went all the way back to their house, to pick up a blanket, a pillow, ear plugs, a face mask, some bottles of water just for me. Then they drove all the way back to the Saint Louis airport to get me. I did finally get into Saint Louis near midnight after my additional connection, now from Bangor to Detroit, Detroit to Chicago, Chicago to Saint Louis. They were able to give me a really comfortable pillow and blanket, and ear plugs and say, go and sleep in the back of the car, so that I could have at least a chance of being somewhat awake in the morning for this interview. They were so kind, their names are Helen and Marshall and they were just dolls. I loved them to pieces. They were a wonderful couple, and they made all of that difficulty so much easier.
So, I get into the hotel at around two in the morning, crash for four hours, get up at six. Get picked up again by Marshall and taken to the Church at seven, do interviews for this wonderful Church called West Side Christian Church with Pastor Eddie Lowan, I think and did them at the 8’O clock Service, the 9:30 Service and the 11’O clock Service. Normally one would not think of Mothers Day as being a day that you would do a service that focuses on what we as woman need to know about our man. But as I said in the service, understanding what is going on inside the man in our lives is the best way to have peace in our home. Making them happy and fulfilling their needs is the surest way of having happiness and peace in our own lives.
So, in a way this is the best Mothers Day gift that you could give yourself as a woman, and it was a great day; it just also was a little tiring. So, as I say this, I am in the final smiles of the final drives after leaving Springfield, driving back to Saint Louis, flying back to Atlanta and driving towards home. I’m two miles from home, it’s 8:45 at night on Mothers Day, and I can’t wait to see my own little kids. We had decided, we were going to celebrate Mothers Day tomorrow since that’s my day off, but I still can’t wait to see them, I miss them so much and I am so glad to be a mom.