Monday, April 13, 2009

....and the beat goes on

... i last left you guys at the airport. my flight cancelled. not knowing a single soul in San Fran....

well i lied. sort of. i know three people. One. Susie the lady we stayed with however she was on her way to England in the coming days. Two. my "friend" steve. another story in itself. and three. a friend of a friend Katie.

I called Katie in tears because i have never been in a situation like this. i hated it. every minute. she calmed me down significantly. she let me know that if worst came to worst and i didn't get on the late night flight to LA she would drive down from Santa Rosa.. which was about a 2 hour drive. pick me up, drive back, and then drive me down early in the morning for an 8am flight that the airline would book me on. i was hoping that wasn't the case. but her ability to calm me was very much appreciative. however. i  stil needed to figure out how to get to LA. as i was attempting to dial Mel my friend Mark beeped in. Mark lives in LA. mark and i have a short past together. all good things though. i have not spoken to Mark in over a years time though...

"Tiffany how are you doing? you in LA yet?"
:: sniffles:: "no i am stuck in the airport and i don't know what to do and my friends are in LA now but i am here and i am lost and i'm lonely and..."
"Whoa. slow down. what's going on?"

As i told him the situation and once again he was another individual to keep me calm. he explained that if the airline could get me to Orange county then Mel and Jeanne could drive up there.

"well what if I just get a taxi from here to LA..."
"Tiff do you realize how far LA is from San Fran.. unless you have 2,000 dollars..."

so option number uno was out.

" i really don't think they know where Orange county is...."

::pause::

"then listen tiff, you get that flight there and i will come pick you up."

He was always like that. Always caring and thinking of others before himself.

5pm. stuck in San fran. option one stay and travel to Santa Rosa with Katie and back in the morning for a definite flight. option two. fly to orange county. option 3. get on the flippin' next flight to LA. i wanted option three please.

As i was texting Katie back and forth keeping her posted with the situation, Steve beeped in and i explained what was going on.
"listen, i have some friends in San Fran right now, if you don't make the late flight, they are more than happy to pick you up, drive you back to Santa Rosa to katie's so that you have a place to stay... you are gonna be okay"

strange how when you have no control over a situation, suddenly options begin to fall into place.

so that was option four. still not good enough, because i was tired, hungry, and stuck in an airport by myself.

I called my friend Sonny back in Orlando, he always had a way of calming me. and that he did. in a different way.

"tiff, you aren't alone. this might sound cheesy but you know that God's got this right? that Jesus is right there with you, right?"
"Yess.... but..."
"But what... you believe that right?"
"yes but I just don't feel like being in this situation right now. i want to be with my friends"
"calm down, grab something to eat and meet a new friend Tiff. God has you stuck here for a reason..."

5:30pm. i mosyed on over to the ticket counter for LA. what a surprise, no flight attendants.. they seem to be hiding from me. another woman was in the same boat as me.

"if you want some company, I'll be grabbing a glass of wine over there.."
that sounded really good right about now. after collecting myself i ventured over to my new friend.

though her name has left me, we quickly talked about our passions with children. you see, she works in DC with a children's hospital and some of her children have been sent to where i work at, Give Kids the World. i think her name was Sheila.

flash forward two hours later and she is my new buddy on the flight over to LA. she's a very talkative woman. calls me girlfriend. not sure what i think about that. she's very loud and animative. i like that.

we finally land and part ways as i am in the "lovely" town of LA ::insert sarcastic tone here:: my luggage had apparently been here for quite a while yet i was stuck in San Fran. with no help from any of the airline attendants, i finally locate my luggage spinning around and around by itself on a lone conveyor belt.
next step. get a hold of Mel. find ride. get sleep. this was going to be a 3 hour process in the making

first of all, my cell phone had very little service when i landed. the one call that DID go through was him. it was such a relief to hear a friendly voice.
"hey tiff so you are here?!"
"yeah i am but.. i'm lost"
"lost? whose picking you up"
"I don't know. I can't get ahold of my friend. i've been in airports since 12 noon. it's 9:30pm. i'm tired. i don't know what to do..." my voice trails off. the last time i let him see me cry was too long ago.  i can't let him hear my tears....
"tiff, do you know anything about LA, anything about where your friends are staying?"
"no.. and she said she was going to send me a text but i haven't gotten it yet. Mark how do you hail a taxi? i don't know the first thing about public transportation.."
" ::sigh:: hey, let me call my wife and i'll come pick you up..."
" huh? what? call your wife?"
" yeah. tiff. .....i'm a married man now"
those words stung. deep.  i knew this fact. had known if for a while. but to hear it verbally said, and under the state of distress i had been enduring for the past 10 hours was draining.
"oh" i said softly. "uhm yes. of course..." i laughed under my breath.
click.  

too many thoughts were swarming my head. i have not seen this person in over two years time.  he was good to me. i can't say a single bad thing about him. now i can only look at him as an endearing big brother.

buzz.
"hey tiff me and the wife will be there soon, we'll be at baggage claim."

flash forward to the bathroom. have to catch my breath. it's hot and sticky. i'm tired. i'm hungry. i'm in a city where i can't get a hold of the only three people i am closed to, yet i have managed to get a hold of someone from my past that i have relatively have had little contact with lately, lately meaning a good two years. strange how events fall into place.

I'm finally able to get a hold of Mel and get an address. she says they are about 5 miles from the airport. no biggie right? it's 9:45pm. i should be there by 10pm. glorious.

i don't know LA at all.
nor do i know it's traffic.
nor do i realize that it's like a culmination of 100s of cities in one.

i quickly realize this.

as mark picks me up i meet his lovely wife. she's gorgeous. incredibly sweet. perfect for him.  he helps me load up my massive suitcase (i swear, i packed as if I was the one going to Australia...) and start to make the drive.

"hey tiff! so what's this address again?"
"here is what she had me write down. she said it's about 5 minutes from the airport..."
mark and his wife look at the address, look at each other, look at me, look at the address again and chuckle.
"that's by Beverly Hills... that's at least 30 minutes away..."
"oh. well you can just drop me off maybe at a bus station? or a taxi station? can you drive me part of the way at least?"
"tiff we'll take you there. but are you hungry first?"

am i hungry? are you kidding me? famished.

they proceed to take me to their amazingly cute little apartment which is, indeed, actually 5 miles from the airport. unlike where MJW is. which is clearly on planet pluto.

they cook me up a nice lil dinner of dumplings and some amazing white wine. i adore white wine. a lot. she shows me their wedding pictures and her beautiful tiara. absolutely gorgeous. like a fairy tale. we catch up and reminscience of life when we realize it's 11:30p.

i wish i could carry that snapshot with me always. i wish i could take polariods of moments like those and keep them tucked away in a shoe box. it's moments like those. brief snippets in time that make me appreciate the friendships i have. no matter how distant they are at first.

after an almost 45 minute commute, down multiple wrong way streets, across numerous ghettos and places that look like they should be on the show COPS, we find the house.

we part ways. hug, say take care, walk my suitcases to the door, and i get ready for bed. it's been a long day. i won't see him again over the course of the next two days in LA. i won't get to catch up with him and we will miss each other's calls. but it was nice while it lasted. such amazing people. such a God-send. truly. funny how He works.

..and the beat goes on.