been home 45 days. longest time home in a long time.

this day of leaving fell on easter monday. paid a visit to the yaqui deer dancers over the weekend, then packed for the early monday morning flight on sunday night before bed. it was a miserable experience.

checked my flight again on line and was spoinked that no upgrades came through. the flight looked completely packed out. there were empty seats there yesterday but nothing at all now.

went to bed after midnight. a miserable experience.

-       —

couldn’t sleep.

turned the tv on. cable and nothing worth watching. switched to the weather station. dallas was being attacked by massive thunder storms. big storms all across the country. tornados galore. homes smashed. lives ruined. massive misery for many.

then they mentioned more storms in the morning hours. so that’s what happened to my crowded upgradeless flight. everyone being rerouted. flights cancelled. severe weather.

fell to sleep like a traveler taking the bed to morning.

-       —– — -

woke up at 6:20.

the radio alarm spews news  that fills the head full of awful dreams so you have to wake up instead. coffee to boil. travel to ponder.

it was a beautiful sunny morning.

light streaming in and shoving the day my way. sat with the coffee like it was the cure. remembered the weird weather and my packed plane.

called the airlines. see what they have in mind. danelle answered. executive platinum desk. they’re all supervisors at that station.

and the station also happens to be in tucson.

told her i was concerned about dallas. hmmm. did i mention the concern about the upgradeless packed plane ? no. not yet. she suggested flying out to los angeles instead, connect direct to london that way, then on to Frankfurt. the flight leaves so much later in the afternoon. arriving frankfurt 12 hours later then i was going to.

“how’s the upgrades look on that route ?”, i quimmed.

“looks very good”, she afflufted.

(last night when i investigated into changing my route for the sake of available upgrades, the night desk man crumpulated back about the extra charges to change the ticket. i hung up the phone and just went back to my miserable pack job.)

danell handled it all spine-tiffickly. within a few minutes i was on an entirely different routing, upgrades were in the works, and no charge for change rendered. i love this airline and they love me and my aching executive platinum sore back from flying too damn much.

and … i got to go back to bed .. not miserable .

-       -  — -

much much later i decided to re-pack. very very slowly. and happily. more songs into the flap top. less clothes in the roller bag.

more time wrestling with the kids. and so much more coffee.

the easter miracles continued. got my manager a free mileage ticket to visit her sick mom in london, just lucky enough to find a route for a week’s trip there that were not the usual bloated mileage award that summer usually only offers. that was lucky.

then i went back to re-re-packin. took out more stuff. put in more songs.

- – -

then headed to the airport with the kids, and headed there early for me, meaning i got there a full hour before my flight was gonna leave.

yes, that’s early for me.

thøger drove and dropped me by the curb. big long hugs for the kids.

inside the airport was a mad house. lines 2 miles long. dallas storms  had erupted again and angry flyers could not change their trips accordingly. i slunk over to the counter. handed them my guitar and bag. jeff the desk man there who knows i’m always late, look very pleased that i changed my flight to los angles instead, cause no one was getting through dallas today. the morning flight i didn’t get on still had not left tucson and it was now 4:00 PM. that means i would not have made my connection to frankfurt. and that also means i would have been stuck in dallas with no hotel rooms available and disastrously long lines to find that out. and no upgrades for days.

so .. i kissed my telecaster goodbye .. and waltzed up to my gate. no line at all at security. a bad sign that stands for crumpled failed flights. got up to the gate. more mad travelers and it sunk my heart seeing all of those “occasional” flyers stuck in no man’s land.

got on board the little jet to los angeles. no delay. clear skies.

my upgraded seat waiting for me there to fly high over the monster storms and get to you on time.

i hope i remember some songs to play.

the end.