Tuesday, December 21, 2010

To Texas We Go: Part 4

And now the conclusion...

After the service we arrived back at the hotel to find out that the long anticipated package had arrived. Dad had overnighted us passports and Matt's international driver's license. When looking at the passports we discovered that Matt's most recent one was three months expired. Ugh...no driver's license, and now an expired passport. How in the world are we going to get back to Virginia? On our good looks and charm? At this moment we did not want to worry about that so we got into some more comfortable clothes and went out to eat with the family.

Matt's aunt, uncle, and cousins also got a room at the hotel. So after dinner we all went to their much larger and adjoined rooms, to play games/watch sports/talk. It was very nice to relax and begin to get to know these people who are now family to me.

The next morning we woke bright and early and were ready to head back to the airport. We got our tickets, checked our bags, then off to the security checkpoint (the part we have been dreading for two days now). All three of us stood by the security officer and told him our story. The license was lost...yes we did report it to the airlines... no we do not have any other id...yeah, we do have a check card in his name...here is an expired passport (smiling hopefully)...and here is an international drivers license, yes it is expired but it DOES have his picture in it...no, we do not have his social security card...please, please, please, we just want to go home. After pleading from all three of us and showing them everything that we could find that had Matt's name on it, they let us through with the warning of DON'T LOSE ANYTHING ELSE.

The flights were uneventful. Once again Grace slept from before take-off to after landing.

I have never had such a wonderful stress-free flight before.

Home has never felt so good.





*Two weeks later we received a letter. Inside was Matt's driver's license. It was mailed by an airport security officer located in Florida. I am guessing that it desired to go on vacation to a nice sunny spot...alone!*

3 comments:

Sue Daniels said...

Thanks for telling The Rest of the Story. It sounds like you DID get home on your good looks and charm. Glad it had a happy ending. I am curious how it ended up in Florida, but I suspect that mystery may never be solved.

love,
sue

Amy said...

What a story!! It's one of those, that if not recorded, you may wonder if you remember it correctly years from now.

I loved what you wrote about Dick. I did not know him well, but from what I did, he seemed like a wonderful man!

Anonymous said...

You forgot to tell them that the alternative was for you and Grace to fly and Matt to "Go Greyhound" for days and days.

Steve