missed it by this much

After the retirement ceremony (see next post) and the yummy buffet at the Academy, Eileen (my coworker), Jack, and I went back to our base housing, watched a movie, and sacked out for the night. (Uh, just to clarify, Eileen had her own room.) But there were a few bits of news on Friday to share (or not) and then there were the events of Saturday. Yes, you're getting another list or two. Plus explanations. This will be another long post, but well, that's what this post needs.

Bits of News:
1. Stu and Shi called with some exciting news that we cannot share just yet, but you can probably guess...
2. Later in the day, Stu called to tell me the results of his recent blood tests that were ordered because the whites of his eyes were yellow. The results: see the doctor this week because the three levels that were measured were respectively, 10 times, 15 times, and 20 times higher than normal.

Events of Saturday:
1. *Rising, showering, makeuping, dressing, packing, ordering three tickets online for the 2:30 Disney on Ice show back at home so the girlies, their moms, and I could see the 'pincesses', leaving the Academy.
2. *Breakfast at the IHOP.
3. *Got in the rental car and drove onto freeway.
4. *Realized the map to the airport was in the trunk.
5. *Decided we could probably find our way back without the map.
6. Enjoyed the drive--
7. *Until we realized we might need the map after all because we took the exit we thought made sense, drove past a couple of exits, realized things didn't look familiar, got off the freeway, stopped in the Target parking lot, checked the map in the trunk, acknowledged we took the wrong exit, got back on the freeway, and took the right exit towards the airport.
8. Started enjoying the ride a tiny bit less.
9. *Got off the freeway to fill up the rental car gas tank at the Conoco located closest to the rental car lot (as 'required' by the rental car company), filled up the tank, and waited in line inside the Conoco for the "required" receipt because the gas tank printer was out of order.
10. Re-entered the freeway, took the exit for rental car returns and dropped off the car.
11. Took the rental shuttle back to the airport.
12. *Waited for the shuttle driver to unload twelve suitcases for four women who tried their best to slow down the unloading process, and did, indeed, succeed at slowing down the process. And didn't give the driver a tip.
13. *Got off the shuttle at the next entrance into the airport--maybe 100 feet from the unloading process for the four women.
14. *Entered the airport, walked to the self-service kiosk for Southwest Airlines, and printed our tickets.
15. *Walked to the security lines, asked a TSA person if we would have a problem making our flight that was departing in half an hour, was reassured that we'd have 'no problem', and waited for our turn to enter the security process.
16. Chose the line with the 'most likely to be frequent, thus quicker through security' fellow travelers.
17. *Waited while TSA-carry-on luggage-scanner employees relieved each other for break (accompanied by much chatter and joviality).
18. *Finally went through security, redressed, repacked, headed to shuttle to concourses.
19. *Missed shuttle to concourse, waited three minutes for next shuttle, rode shuttle to Concourse C.
20. *Exited shuttle, rode escalator up two levels to gates.
21. *Walked on moving sidewalk past Gates 1-29 to Gate B30.
22. *Exited moving sidewalk, ran to Gate B32.

*All opportunities to save anywhere from 30 seconds to several minutes thus ensuring we would make our flight home in time for me to accompany the girlies and their moms to the pincesses show. Alas, we did not save any of those seconds or minutes and missed our flight. No amount of pleading would convince the Southwest Airlines gateman (who closed the door as my fingers reached out to it, unlike the several times the Delta agent opened the door as I ran up and allowed me on the plane) to open the door and let us on the plane that sat there, mocking us, for at least 10 minutes after we arrived at the gate. Gateman's name escapes me because once I realized we were missing the flight, and I would be home no sooner than 4:50, clearly too late to pick up the ice show pincess tickets from will call with my photo id, order number, and credit card used to purchase the tickets, that not only would I be out the $116 I paid for front row seats (how amazing is that? it was cheaper to buy those tickets online on the day of show than it would have been if I'd purchased them through my work discount for upper bowl seats), and there was no way that Ticketmaster could exchange the seats for the 6:30 show because the tickets had already been printed---but more than any of that, the little girlies--one redhead in particular--had been talking about seeing the pincesses with mama (princesses with me) for days (two days, which in the mind of that redheaded two-year-old who asked her mom every half hour if it was time to go see the pincesses with mama, is an eeeternity), well, the idea of disappointing them and the dissapointment I felt by missing the opportunity to see their excitement and delight and even comfort their fears, was enough to cause me to simply crumble in a heap on the floor of Denver International Airport, tears leaking from my eyes, cell phone to my ear, while waiting for the compassionate Ticketmaster sales rep to change the name on the order for pickup at will call from mine to Jessie's.

We spent the next four hours, Jack encouraging me to do whatever I could to ease my pain (quesadilla's at The Cantina, gift-shopping for the girlies, chai tea from Starbucks at the end of Concourse B--way, way far away from Concourse C), until we barely made our next flight.

Yeh, I never learn, do I?