I can’t believe it.  I’m sitting here.  On my couch, in my spot.  ESPN is on talking about the playoffs and Josh is in the other room watching the Wiggles, who I’ll formally apologize to a little later.

All of you truly amaze me with the support you’ve given me.  There were those on Twitter (which I avoided completely) I just read tweets from and Facebook clearly got me through my “trip” up to NY from NC.  Those of you who sent donations are forever in my heart and I raised enough for my plane ticket.

I booked the day I got to NY.  Paid $500 for a non-stop from Syracuse to Charlotte.  I carried on through my week bitching and grumbling because I don’t do holidays well but then my last night there I got a phone call.

I’d like to point out that I have a hometown bar I go to every time I visit.  It’s very important to me as are it’s patrons.  I had made arrangements to meet my friends there over a week before I even got there so when I found out I couldn’t go I was devastated.

US Airways called.  They canceled my flight.  My precious, two-hour, non-stop flight.  Canceled.

Talk about flip out, dear lord.  I don’t yell at people (except my kids), so I didn’t yell at the agent.  Trust me, I worked in the airline industry for eight years.  I KNOW they don’t want these flights canceled.  The last thing they want to do is rebook all of us.

So I found out the reason (weather in another city caused my flight crew to not be able to fly the plane I needed).  The problem was, they couldn’t find another flight to put me on for two days.  They checked every airline.

I was also checking airlines and saw that JetBlue had three tickets available, so I asked US Air to refund mine (they said yes but it hasn’t happened yet) and I booked a connection flight through JFK on JetBlue.

Since the flight was the next morning, I went to go check in for it but it wouldn’t allow me to.  It took about two minutes of that before I realized that I booked going in the WRONG DIRECTION.   I booked myself to fly Charlotte to Syracuse.  Shit.

So I rush to call them as I book the correct direction.  The flight from Syracuse to Charlotte (via JFK) had a seat available and I booked it for the same price as the non-stop US Air flight.  Expensive for sure, but it was also last minute and I guess that’s who flights everywhere are.

I talked to the JetBlue agent who said they don’t refund tickets and I should have just called her and she would have changed it for me but I told her about my week and said with my luck, the seats would have been taken by the time I got through to her.  She was amazing.  I got a very sympathetic “Aw, sweetie” and a promise of refund (still waiting on that, too, but it was Saturday).

Because the flights now left at 6AM, I couldn’t meet all my friends Saturday night because I had to have Josh up at 4AM.  I felt so sorry for myself, but I figured at least we’d be home by noon.  The later in the day you travel, the more likely your plane is to be delayed.

I’m not going to delve too deep into the flights, because I’m still exhausted from them but I have to give you a gloss over.  There is a reason I needed a non-stop.  My son is a SPAZ.  He is the cutest, most charming (like his brother), PSYCHOTIC child out there.

We had to wake up at 4AM, and didn’t get to our home until about 1PM, so that child was exhausted.  He just isn’t a napper.  I’ve seen him sleep in a car, but it’s rare and same goes for flight.   In the six hours we spent in the airport/flying, I’m fairly sure my child tried to board four different flights, invade the space of no less than 50 people and lick about seven different things, including a woman’s purse.

Joshua found a marker in a toy as I was getting a soda and got it EVERYWHERE in about thirty seconds, so I had to buy it and when he’d make a run for a place I didn’t want, he did the full body “limp drop” and would throw himself to the floor or make it so I had to drag him by the arm.

It got to where total strangers were trying to help me.  Of course, people told me how cute  he was.  Well, YEAH.   If he wasn’t so cute, people would find him as annoying as I did.  People tried giving me tips and pointers and I smiled and thanked them but I KNOW the tips and pointers.  My first child is an angel.  I travel with them every two or three months!  It’s this baby.  This BABY.

Anyway, I want to take a moment to thank all of you who made your donations for the flight.  I got just enough to cover the tickets and I’m waiting for everything to process (the US Air refund, JetBlue refund and then the correct JetBlue processing fee) and then later in this week I’m going to calculate what everyone sent (I got a few donations by mail, too!) and we decided that to show our appreciation, we’re going to take the total amount and donate half to my “fly Julie Home” fund and the other half to the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention.

I took the time to record Joshua behaving WELL at the airport yesterday but wanted to give you a taste of what I’m taking about.  I finally got him calm on the second flight when the person who was supposed to sit next to me decided to sit elsewhere so I locked Josh into a seat and put the Wiggles on.  He wouldn’t wear headphones but they kept him still for most of the flight so I’d like to tell the Wiggles I’m sorry I’ve used so many offensive and derogatory terms when I’ve talked of you in the past.  This child is the reason I will either book a non-stop flight or just cancel my trip overall. I love him. I love him. I love him.