The obligatory Ohio post
Me and lindsey in the bathroom at grandma's.. like the lighting? hah.
I kept my plan a secret since I wasn't sure if I'd be able to go through with it since I basically fear traveling. I told my plan to erebrandir and he, out of the blue, said he'd take me. I wasn't sure he was for real, but after a couple weeks of thought, it turned into actually buying plane tickets which made me realise that this meant I had to get over my fear pretty fast.
The plan was that I wanted to come to Ohio finally so I could avoid hurricane season and push mom towards checking out Austin since the last time I ever moved had me in Ohio, too. perhaps Ohio wasn't the focal point in that scenario, but I felt a similar scenario could put things in motion at least. nonetheless, if no hurricanes came and no move came about fast enough, I'd still get to see everyone again and make grandpa happy since in each card he sends me with a check, inside, he writes, "Isn't it time you came and visited?" I didn't want the question to be in vain!
Tuesday night I felt something was wrong since Joe (erebrandir) said he'd call that night before the flight and he never did. I figured perhaps he just didn't get there yet or fell asleep. by morning, while in the car at 11:44am, dad called his phone and he wasn't picking up. dad figured maybe there wasn't a signal in the airport. there turned out not to be once we got to check-in, but still no sign of him when we were supposed to meet there around that hour. it's just good for etickets, the lady at the desk allowed me to check in after I told her my name, the flight / destination and showed a photo ID. mom went through security with me since she explained my anxiety over travel and got a pass. it's good she went since my gate was in a part of the airport that needed a shuttle/tram to take me there. I got a bit dizzy / tipsy on it, but nothing too horrible. once I got on the plane, I still had hope he was just late and would show up though I was one of the few last people to board. a flight attendant or someone related to the flight came over and asked me if I had seen Joe and I said no then the guy said he had never checked in, so another guy came and took the seat who decided to fly early. he [new guy] didn't say much, so that was good (the anxiety escalates when strangers try to hold a converation with me beyond one or two questions). I was still disoriented and now really rather worried about things though still figuring maybe there was a delay on the first flight and he'd just take a later one.
Once I got there, I dragged my feet across the super long airport to baggage claim and got a blister on my foot. I was never so glad to see grandma waiting down there after a few minutes. grandpa came in a few minutes after that, we got my bag then me and grandma used the restroom, waited outside for grandpa to bring the car around and that was that. the car bringing around bit was probably the worst I got during the whole trip (anxiety wise) though since they had lost his car in the garage, so it took an hour and I had to dig a few nails into my leg to calm down over this.
When we were about ten minutes from 'home', I got the call from mom about Joe getting into a head on collision in Columbus and was so shocked, I had pains in my chest and felt an out of body sensation. perhaps part of this was that mom had the teary eyed voice and that voice tends to give me chills and for this bit of news, I guess it was appropriate; I haven't cried once due to the zombie-like state I get in when anxious, but I'm sure once it sinks in more, I may have a good cry. I tend to joke "oh, maybe they died" but no more! that's close enough to death* in my book and not too funny now :|
* He'll be fine, but the injuries are serious enough that we were told it'd take a couple months to fully recover from them -- it was either dad or my aunt who relayed this news to me after various phone calls -- anyhow, it is just too bad.. I may have been uneasy at first due to social phobia over meeting a friend for the first time who I've talked to for years on chat, but once I was at the airport, I was actually a bit excited to meet him :\
We're going to pull for a card.. not sure about seeing him or not. lindsey goes to Columbus for school in a couple weeks, but before I had decided it was too much for me to also go so soon after all this travel. I'd feel bad not to.. well, we'll see.
Unpacking was a bit sad since I brought some things I thought he'd like that we talked about in chat.
It is good lindsey showed up though; we spent time on our computers together, went through my luggage, ate coffee cake, tried on my BPAL imps I got recently and watched a bit of the Disney channel which I apparently cannot escape ever.. hah. oh and well, the pictures in the bathroom escapade. it took forever to set them up right!
That's all for now. I'm still wired after only 3hrs of sleep today (sleeping on the plane didn't happen though I did rest them a bit then would look out the window now and then.. was nice to have first class! there weren't any window seats left in coach).. I guess it makes sense for such a bizarre day really.