To Texas We Go

It is a sad fact that sometimes family gatherings are held due to loss in the family.

Last January Matt's grandmother passed away. He made a solo trip to Texas for the memorial service. Grace (who was about 4 weeks old at the time) and I stayed at home. When Matt arrived after the weekend with the family we got to see pictures, and hear stories, but it is just not the same. I wish I could have been there for Matt during that time. I wish that I could have met that side of the family.

This past November, once again, we received the sad news that there is yet another loss in Matt's family. His grandfather passed away on Veteran's Day. I only met his grandfather twice, and talked to him on the phone a handful of times, but I felt like I knew him still. This was a man who never met a stranger. Everyone was a friend and he was open and as helpful to everyone (as possible) in return.

When this news came, I knew that there was no question....we were all going to Texas.

I started to ask traveling advice from all of my friends who have traveled with young ones. I began to stock up on travel snacks, formula, oatmeal, anything that I could think of to feed Grace on the run, or something that just needed water added (that we would be getting from the flight attendants) in order to make a drink or meal for her. Yes, I began to stress out. I had so many lists going of what I needed to buy, what I needed to pack, what I needed to lay out to use, what needed to go in this bag, what needed to go in that bag, etc. Looking back, it was actually very humorous.

When plans were made, it was discovered that we had a week to get plane tickets, car and hotel reservations, and pack. Once again...yes, I began to stress out! One thing that helped was that Matt has a cousin in that location who has a little one. So she let us borrow a high chair, playpen, and a stroller (less stuff for us to pack/check/worry about)

At 3:00 am on Friday, November 19th, Matt and I had the unfortunate task of waking up Grace (usually it is the other way around). A quick breakfast, some very last minute packing, and we were out the door for a 6:00 am flight out of Roanoke. We had two legs to this trip. We went from Roanoke to Atlanta and then from Atlanta to Houston.

Roanoke to Atlanta:
We got through security easily enough, and got settled on our flight. I could see the looks of the other passengers all thinking "Oh no! There is a baby on this flight..." Grace was wonderful though. She fell asleep before we took off and stayed asleep for over half of her first flight. When she finally woke up I asked the flight attendant for some hot water and made her some oatmeal for breakfast. She was contently eating while we landed.

At the Atlanta airport Matt and I were about to sit down to enjoy our own breakfast while we reorganized everything (snacks, toys, tickets, etc.). While moving everything around we realized that Matt had somehow misplaced his Virginia driver's license. We dumped out our carry-on luggage, all of our pockets on our coats, the stroller, the car seat, and anything else that we had with us...NO LICENSE. Ok, no big problem...I still have my license. I can do all of the driving, we do not have to go through another security checkpoint before we get to Houston. But, they would probably not allow Matt to get back on the plane to return to Roanoke if he has no ID....BIG PROBLEM! We called the airline and reported his license lost. Then I got a grand idea, call my family in Harrisonburg. I had five minutes before our next plane took off to call my father and leave a frantic message. I told him of our problem and asked him to go to our house, get Matt's passport. I hung up hoping that my message was clear and that he would be able to help in time.

Atlanta to Houston:
Grace slept the whole time from before take off to after we landed. I had to wake her up to get her off of the plane. We picked up the car with no problem (used my license to be able to get the car...and realized that I - yes I - would have to drive the horrible Houston roads. Ok, Houston roads are not all that bad, but I am used to driving on the same roads that horse and buggies drive on...that is my speed of driving). And off to the hotel.

End of part 1.