Dejected Elation

The kids and I got to the airport around 6:20 last night. His flight was to land around 7.
We were all so giddy with excitement!
Finally, people started to spill through the arrival gate! We watched a plane from Chicago unload, then two other planes. Then we watched as an attendant shut the sliding glass door and lock it. I felt so dejected! The kids were utterly confused. We walked over to the baggage claim, just to make sure he didn’t walk right by us. Nope, no Mike.
My cell phone rang at that moment. It was Mike. He says “I guess you have realized by now that I wasn’t on that flight”. Uh, right. Evidently, they were working on his plane, while they were waiting, on the plane. He said he was waiting for them to either finish working on the plane or for the crew to arrive for the next flight, which ever came first. He said he would call me back once he knew what time he would be arriving. The last thing I wanted to do was to sit in the airport for at least 2 hours with three upset kids. So, I did what any sane person would do. I loaded the kids back in the van and headed for Target! We went in and bought a new DVD player for the van (the old one needed replaced). And of course we needed a few new movies to watch. We got back in the van around 9. Since I hadn’t heard from Mike yet, I figured it was still at LEAST 2 hours until he would arrive. I called a friend to have her look up the flight times for me. Two planes were headed in from Dallas, landing at 9:15 and 9:23. These were the two planes Mike spoke about, so I knew he was on one of them. We go back to the airport and go in just in time watch him walk off the plane… sweet! The kids were thrilled and I was so relieved. We got home around 11 last night. It’s so good to have him home.