Blessed

I feel like this post is something that should be posted in November, but I have been helped out so much this last week by friends and strangers making it possible to go to my Grandmother's funeral.  And I was amazed at all the little miracles that made the trip so much easier.

It started out with Brian and I having to leave the house at 4:30 a.m. on Joshua's first day of school.  We were able to have a friend be willing to come over at 4:30 to sleep at our house with our kids, so that they didn't have to get up 3 hours early, and Joshua didn't have to be exhausted on his first day of school.

Then on the first two planes heading towards Utah I ended up with a whole row to myself.  On the second plane the plane was almost full, but I still had a whole row.  I had stuff all strewn out, I could nurse easily, it was great. 

I ended up missing the last plane into Salt Lake City due to some weather issues, but I was able to get on the very next plane,  and I had a couple of hours to get something to eat, let Miriam roll around, and I think it made scheduling easier for my sister who picked me up.  I also go the very last seat on the plane, so I lucked out there.

On the last flight I sat next to a guy who didn't have any problems when Miriam kicked him (I tried to avoid that when possible, but she is loooong), and tried to give me some privacy when nursing.  It was actually kind of funny because he would stare out the window when I nursed, but then Miriam fell asleep so I didn't take of the nursing cover.  So the poor guy stared out the window for 40 minutes.  Then she woke up and I burped her, he picked up his book, and I gave her the other side, so he proceeded to stare out the window again, almost all the way to Salt Lake City.  But I give the guy an A for effort.

The very next day my sister, her boyfriend and I had to drive 3 1/2 hours to Hurricane, Utah for the viewing.  Miriam made it the whole way without demanding to eat.  It ended up being like 4 1/2 hours between nursings, because when we got there everyone wanted to hold the baby.  I felt kind of bad in the car because we stopped once to get out and ate snacks the whole way down, but told Miriam to just stay in the car seat.  And she did because she is Miriam.

On the day I was to go home, it started off kind of rocky.  I checked my email that morning and my flight was canceled.  My dad called the airlines, and got a new flight plan, and when we got to the airport the flight was canceled again.  The was some tornado warnings in the east so they would fly me almost to Albany, but all the early flights into Albany were canceled.  We were finally able to get a flight plan that got me into Albany that night after the storms. 

The plane got in at 10:30 p.m. and again we didn't want to totally disrupt the kids sleeping schedules, so  we asked our neighbor to come over and sit at our house while they slept.  And then our power went out and she had to sit in our house in the dark for 2 1/2 hours.  Fortunately she had a charged Nook and could read while she was here. 

On my flights back I had several people help me out.  A couple of men (after the urging of their wives) carried my luggage through the airports.  And a really nice lady on my last flight insisted that I join her on her empty row so that I could have some more room. 

And through the whole time, Miriam took the craziness like a champ.  She ate when it was offered but didn't fuss if a feeding was late.  She gave up and was able to sleep almost anywhere, and did her best to be happy when she was awake.  I was really blessed to be able to attend my grandmother's funeral and blessed to have the easiest trip possible.