I've said before, and I will say many times again: I hate flying. It makes me so anxious, not to mention my past with "attracting" turbulence. If I could buy myself a Concord jet that flies at the speed of sound and gets me places in 1/4 of the time that normal commercial planes do, I would have 3.
My first flight left at 1pm from St. Louis. By the time I actually boarded the plane I was feeling my usual anxious self, and it must have shown. I was seated by the window, on purpose. I had chosen all four of my flights to have window seats. I find that it calms me during turbulence to look out and see that the wing is still there and we are still moving forward. I was seated next to a wonderful woman named Mary, and on the aisle was a woman I never learned the name of. These women were such a blessing to me. Miss Mary talked the entire time the flight was in the air. (Only 1 hr 6 min) She helped take my mind off things and knitted a washcloth while she talked. She was going to Albuquerque to the hot air balloon festival. We talked about bucket lists and places we wanted to travel. Weather was good, and we only hit one patch of turbulence. She was aware that I didn't like being on the plane, and she had me talk to her to pass the time and it actually calmed me down.
My connecting flight was in Atlanta, and this one was only 32min to Columbia. This particular flight was a little bumpier than the first, but I made it. We even raced another plane that was landing on the runway next to ours.
We won.
My step-dad was waiting for me when I arrived in Columbia, and he took me back to their house. It was overcast, but hadn't started raining yet. Hurricane Joaquin was on her way, though.
When we got to the house, my step dad walked in first, with me right behind him. My mom was extremely happy to see me, but I suspected she had figured out I was coming. We recorded her reaction, but the video is pretty dark so I didn't upload it. We ate leftover corn soup for dinner and we all went to bed.
Mom's birthday morning started out with cuddles from Cat.
Then, we went to IHop for breakfast. They sang to her :)
And gave her free pancakes :)
After breakfast we went back to the house to pick up my step dad, and I played with their greyhound, Heidi. My mother's photography skills are demonstrated below. She enjoys taking pictures of her fingers.
Here is me 'riding' Heidi. The dog and I became best friends instantly.
Cat also made sure she got some cuddle time.
That afternoon, we went to Denmark, SC with my aunt Kathy to go to an art studio. The Jim Harrison Gallery. She had gotten a coupon in the mail for a free print. The weather channels were all warning of the weather coming in, and Columbia was in the 6-17 inches of rain wave. Denmark was about an hour drive, and we went despite the weather man's warning.
Downtown Denmark. Its pretty small, but cute!
The gallery was pretty neat. Out of respect, I didn't take any pictures inside the studio. Aunt Kathy bought a print, and I got her free one :)
For mom's birthday dinner, we ate at Zorba's Greek restaurant.
We got the sampler appetizer platter and I tried grape leaves (they tasted like pickles).
My steak and Greek potatoes were wonderful. I ate half of the plate at dinner and the rest the next night for dinner.
Saturday the rain started. Hurricane Joaquin had made her presence known. Since we weren't in flood warnings yet, mom and I decide to go get massages. This place was pretty good. They took us in to the couples room, so mom and I were in the same space and we did the 60 minute Chinese massage. I can't speak for mom, but my massage was wonderful.
We didnt do much after that. We were going to go to thr Italian festival, but it was cancelled due to thr hurricane. We were going to walk around Octoberfest, but that was also cancelled due to weather. What else do you do on a rainy day? Bake cookies!
I tried to spend some time with Toby, my cat from when in was a kid. He is getting old and I thought this might be the last time I saw him. He still didn't want his picture taken, so this is all I got.
Sunday morning, 3:30am my alarm goes off. Ugh! Why did I pick the 5:45am flight?! Just knowing that I had to fly today, my stomach was in knots. I ate a boiled egg and got ready to go. We opened the garage door and saw it. The flood waters had reached across the street from my parents house. They are located on the middle of a hill. So, there are houses below them and houses above them. We get in my step dads truck and watch a garbage can float down the street. We had to turn around and go a different way, and authorities were shutting down the interstates as we were going to the airport. I thought, there's no way I'm getting out of here in this. Wrong!! Here's what we took off in the middle of.
Talk about turbulence. I was ready to jump out the emergency exit and take my chances in the rain. I think this flight was the longest, most stressful 36 minutes of my life. I thought for sure that we were going down several times. We land in Atlanta and I'm nearly in tears and realize I can't feel my right hand because I'd been gripping the arm rest so hard.
Against my better judgement, I bought breakfast at the airport, thinking that I needed to eat and that might help calm my nerves for this next flight.
The food was meh. And $12. And I'm pretty sure all the did was microwave it. But I ate most of it and realized my next nightmare was coming true. I had to pee. Bad.
Now. There are two kinds of restrooms that I avoid at nearly all costs. Rest areas and airport bathrooms. Sadly, I had to use this one.
The flight from Atlanta to ST. Louis was oddly bumpy/turbulent and I hated every minute of it, but still not as bad as the flight I had earlier that day.
When I landed at home, my wonderful husband was there to pick me up and my step dad sent me these pictures. 
Across the street and down the street. They missed the flooding by a driveways width.
So, even though we didn't go out and do much, it was still a great weekend getting to spend some time with my parents, and my aunt Kathy. I won't be flying anywhere for a while, but I love destinations so I am not going to stop flying, ever. I love travel, hate flying. I make it work. But I'll make sure that Micah goes with me next time so he can hold my hand.
Very good
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