What's life with out a little drama?

I think I have given myself enough time to calm down...I think. So, grab yourself a box of ding-dongs and a coke (possibly a tissue if you're the sensitive type) cause this is a looong one.

Before I continue with my story I must preface it with the fact that the day I flew home emotions were running high. It's always hard to leave home. Especially leaving behind a nice washer and dryer, and dishwasher...oh, and clean water. I mention clean water because yet again it feels like I'm living in a 3rd world country and my water is dark murky brown as I speak. I guess I should be thankful for that nasty water because it's the reason I don't have to do the dishes tonight. So besides all the conveniences of home, it's hard to leave behind family. It's hard to believe that my families lives actually go on with out me, but without me it can't be too much of an exciting life now can it.

Put that all aside and now there is the stress of flying home ALL by myself with 3 little kids. Talk about going on a diet. The surest way to lose weight is to fly alone with kids, the more kids you have the more weight you'll lose, I'm sure of it. The anxiety itself will cause you to lose your appetite for at least a good week and a half. I've actually gotten better. The first time I flew with just two kids I couldn't eat for two weeks I was so scared.

Then on my way to the airport I gave my Grandma a call just to tell her I love her and say goodbye only find her on the other line in pain and nearly in tears saying that she needs someone to run her to the hospital. So I'm holding back the tears having to leave her behind not being able to be with her.

So the thoughts of leaving home are weighing me down combined with the anxiety of being confined on an airplane with my 3 kids for 5 hours plus an hour layover and worrying about my Grandma. The only thing I had going for me was the fact that I had managed to shower earlier that morning. So regardless if a looked like a lady on the verge of a nervous breakdown at least I smelled good and had shaved legs.

Now on to my flight;

Someone must of been praying for me because the first part of my flight went extremely well. The kids were amazing! They were quiet and kept pretty entertained with all of my dollar store purchases (thank you dollar tree). The second part of the flight went even smoother than the first. Macie fell asleep on the floor, while Abrie fell asleep listening to my ipod and Kaleb watched a movie. I was developing a new found confidence in the flying with 3 kids by yourself thing.

We then landed in Chicago for an hour layover or as Macie calls it "Cago". After doing the necessary trips to the potty we had to stand in line for about 30-40 mins since southwest is ghetto and doesn't allow people with kids to pre-board any more...those lame-o's (how do you like that word usage? I thought it was a nice touch myself...Lame-o's. I'm definitely going to use that word more often). Needless to say the kids started getting restless being confined to the stroller. I've learned my lesson about letting Kaleb out of my sight for more than a minute...bad things happen, I mean, REALLY bad things. Finally they let us board and I managed to keep Kaleb close by. I chose the seats clear in the back for two reasons; bathrooms and less people to disturb (or so I thought).

The kids were not as good this flight, actually it's more like Macie and Kaleb were not as good. Abrie was an angel. Macie and Kaleb fought a little bit with each other, they would scream back and forth, and they would tease each other. This portion of the flight was filled with empty threats and bribery. All I can say, is that Kaleb is one smart boy and he knew whatever naughty thing he did he would still be safe from the wrath of me. After all, he was in the safety of the public eye.

Finally the pilot announces we were about to land. So the DVD player is off, the ipod is off, the trays are up, and the seat belts are on. I'm thinking we are almost done. Well, not quite yet. We ended up circling the airport for another 40 minutes and the kids were getting ancy. They weren't terrible, just typical kids doing typical kids things and wanting to get off the plane.

The time had finally come. I felt the plane starting to lower in altitude and with it my anxiety level also went down. We touched down and made it smoothly to our gate. I leaned back and breath a sigh of relief. I felt accomplished, we had made it back home with no problems or casualties.

No sooner did I finished that sigh of relief I noticed that this middle-aged man, that had been sitting in front of me, was staring at me. At this point we were all standing patiently waiting our turn to get off the airplane. Since this man was staring at me I gave him a quick friendly smile. He did not smile in return. In fact, my smile was met with a death stare (not sure exactly what a death stare is, but it sounds good). Then this man then opened is mouth and coldly replied, "Congratulations, you have the 3 MOST annoying kids I have EVER met!". His remark was calculated. Each word was said slow and meticulously, making sure not to mispronounce anything that he was saying so that I may, more clearly, get his point. I stood there in complete shock and disbelief. Did this man just actually say the I had the most annoying kids ever? (see what a meant when I said this was such and "Uh, uh,...no you di'in't..." type of situation....

That's enough drama for one night and trust me, there's more to go around.