Well, Maddie made it to California - flying all by herself for the first time. Of course, in typical Janet fashion, there is a "story"!
We had it all planned out - dinner with Diane & Devin in Clackamas on our way to the airport, Jack & Sophie would stay with D & D while I ran Maddie up to catch her flight (getting through security would be so much easier without the twins, right???).
So, after a nice dinner and chat, I realized we had best be on our way, so we hit the road (yes, I left a little later than I had planned... quite frankly, WAY LATER, but how hard could it be?).
Well, just for those of you that haven't ever done this, there is a LOT of paperwork to fill out for an Unaccompanied Minor. And, when that Minor needs to pee - REALLY REALLY BAD - you have choices to make. I sent Maddie off around the corner to use the restroom while I completed the shipping manifests for my daughter's first solo flight.
Back she comes, a few minutes later - about ready to unleash her bladder with a stricken look - "Maddie honey - why didn't you wait for me at the bathroom????" (I had given her STRICT instructions to go potty and wait for me IN the restroom!!!). "The line was REALLY long Mom - and I have to GO BAD!!" (forget trying to question the wisdom of not STAYING in the line at this point).
So, cutting in line to drop off her checked luggage (thank you grumpy lady and her husband for letting us in!), and then racing off to the security line (oh no - it's LONG...). A LARGE family in front of us was going to California too *albeit NOT on Maddie's flight* that was leaving in.... AAACKKK - 15 MINUTES!!! Excuse me... would you mind if we cut in front of you? She's flying alone and we are running really behind... Oh thank you so much... NOOOOOOO.... the grandma of this little (read that with sarcasm) group had already handed her boarding pass to the very gruff TSA employee checking identities before we are permitted to be screened. Sigh - unfortunately, grandma doesn't speak much English (family was Asian - wasn't relevant until now, which is why I didn't mention it earlier) and she didn't understand why this large black woman is yelling at her to provide her ID in order to "pass". Who has grandma's ID??? where is it? Mom? Dad? Please, someone find her ID...
Okay - so the large, angry TSA lady (maybe she needs a new job?) finally turns to me and says fine - give me your stuff while they look for her ID. She goes through the paperwork, looks at Maddie's boarding pass and says "YOU didn't get a boarding pass for her, YOU need to go to the TICKET COUNTER" well, I had, and I was told we had everything which I tried to explain very nicely, but she was loud and angry and I was scared Maddie would miss her flight (did I mention she still had to pee...) so back to the ticket counter we ran... of course, the ticket agent that had helped us was no where to be found... but I managed to get someone's attention and quickly tell her that we didn't have the correct boarding pass to get Maddie past security according to the very thorough TSA agent at the screening check point. She (the ticket counter lady) went through the paperwork and found the correct boarding pass (apparently the TSA lady found the one that said "not valid for security" thought I was trying to pull a fast one, and didn't bother to find the REAL one). Running (for those of you old enough to remember the old Avis commercials) like OJ through the airport (NOT like OJ on the 405 freeway, for those of you NOT old enough to remember Avis, but old enough to remember a White Bronco) we raced back towards the security line, hoping we could cut through AGAIN, when the ticket agent came racing up to help us get through the "Special" line with her badge (thanks again!). So she runs us through the (MUCH NICER) TSA checkpoint for employees, etc. and we get in line to be screened.
Maddie - get your shoes off honey - put them in the box... OK - walk through slowly, I'm right here. I get through (but had forgotten to take off MY shoes! OH NO!!!) and I guess I had touched Maddie's shoulder to get her to move to pick up her bags coming out of the x-ray machine (that's apparently a BIG no no...) some other TSA lady starts screaming that I touched her and that she needed to come back through and be screened again too... (like I might have transferred some explosive device in that brief nano-second - never mind that I hadn't set off the detectors EVEN with the forbidden shoes on my feet....). So back through - shoes off and through the x-ray... and off go the bells (how is it that I did that?) Back up again, and go through S L O W L Y... deep breath - okay, that time I made it through without any musical accompaniment.
Run Maddie Run... no, don't worry about your shoes - just RUN. Barefoot... like OJ (see above - think Avis NOT Bronco). Didn't think I could move that fast... OK - thank goodness she was leaving at gate C1 (and NOT C23!!!). Gate agent says I can take her to the bathroom before they take her on board (in hindsight, this was probably a very good idea on her part!). So we run to the bathroom, and Maddie heads in to pee (finally). Except she didn't follow my directions (just go honey - don't worry about the door... I'm holding it shut). Yep - she locked the door. Never been a problem before... but of course she couldn't get it unlocked. OK - so crawl out - we'll deal with that later. (Attention Airport Housekeeping staff: I am deeply sorry for not notifying you about that fifth stall from the end being locked from the inside... I was a tad distracted. I will make it up to you somehow. Maybe next time I'll drop a $20 bill and leave my latte behind.)
Back to the gate - with 4 minutes to spare! Maddie starts to cry... "I miss Grandma" (are you KIDDING ME???) well, good thing that's her issue - and not that she misses Daddy, Lucy, Jack or Sophie huh? "Honey, don't cry now - you've done so GREAT! Grandma will be there to pick you up in just about 2 hours... I love you!" Kisses and hugs, tears dried and she trots off with the VERY nice gate agent, who starts to chat about her kitten, to which Madeleine starts to elaborate on Lucy, doing her very best Ricky Ricardo impression "Lucy... you got some 'splainin' to do...." down the jetway.
The plane backs away and I wonder to myself where the "point of no return" is...
The gate agent returns several minutes later, "She did fine, she is SO smart and beautiful... and very poised. She settled right in and met her flight attendants graciously, acknowledging them as her "special flight attendants" on her first solo flight. Don't worry mom - she's going to be just fine."
And she was - 2 hours and 20 minutes later, she was on the ground in The OC, with Grandma and Great Janet. Phew - glad that adventure is over with. :)
