Well, as I previously reported, I was supposed to take a week-long vacation in Florida at the beginning of this month. But instead of squirting SPF 45 on my pale bod and sipping icy drinks next to the pool, I’m sitting in my home office in cold, rainy Indianapolis. This ain’t Florida. What happened, you ask?
Here’s the story: My sister and I were to fly out of Fort Wayne on a cut-rate airline. We got a great price on a hotel and flight package and the flight was to be nonstop. We were psyched. However, when we checked in with the airline Thursday evening, we were told that there would be a “slight” delay from the 7:05 departure time. No biggie. It got to be 8 p.m. and still no plane. The airline brought in pizza and told us that we should be outta there by 10 p.m.–the plane had some minor mechanical issues, but would be flying in from Florida soon. The plane arrived around midnight, but the departure time was reset to 1 a.m. Finally, at 3 a.m., with my fellow travelers getting more and more restless, the flight was cancelled. While waiting for the mechanical issues to be resolved, the weather had worsened so much (snow was coming down all evening) that the plane was grounded. To make a long story short, it was nearly impossible to get a cab (my sister and I really wanted to go back to her house and sleep) and by the time we got to my sister’s house it was 6:30 in the morning! The flight had been rescheduled to leave at 1:30 Friday afternoon, but we were so miserable and exhausted, we weren’t up for fighting through the snow again to get back to the airport at 11 a.m. So we said screw it. Our refund is in the mail.
The one good thing out of all this is that I’ll be able to pay my sister back more quickly for the money I had to borrow from her for my paint job! (Yes, I totally overextended myself with the vacation and paint job.) It was humbling, but I asked to borrow $1500 from her a few weeks ago. And it was difficult, because I haven’t borrowed any significant amount of money from anyone since college. Before, I probably would have just borrowed the $15oo against my credit cards. But I asked, and my sister didn’t scold me or make me feel like a loser. She was gracious and kind, and I realize now that it’s OK to ask for help.
