Thankfully for me...and maybe to your disappointment, I can't really think of any Missyisms that occurred to me during my trip abroad. My poor little sister, though...it is so apparent that we're related as Missyisms galore tormented her! I don't want to bust her out; so, I will keep them to myself. But, believe you me, I felt enormous sympathy for her, and tremendous relief and amusement for myself! She's a sweetheart, though. She was my side-kick, my little buddy and my roommate on the trip. She scratched my back and I scratched hers.
Come to think of it, I scratched her back an awful lot but I don't think she scratched mine once...hmmm....
I have to tell you this one little story about my dear, sweet little brother. The day we left for France was a little crazy and there was a lot of excitement and stress. We had a 5 hour car ride to the airport and we left the house 30 minutes to an hour late! Oh for shame! Where was the 'S.A.' there, dad?!?! Huh? Huh?
Ya see, I can kid him like that because he lives on the opposite coast as me...and he never reads my blog...so, I'm safe!
There was a recurring theme on our France trip, which was my Dad constantly lecturing about 'S.A." Situational Awareness.
Fun.
(It really just turned out to be code for, "I can't multi-task; so, just leave me alone for a minute until I get this (S.A.) figured out!")
So, we leave for the airport late...not good S.A. About 3/4 of the way to the airport my dad starts giving us instructions. He tells my brother, sister and I that he is going to drop us off at the airport, curbside, where we are to get our boarding passes while he goes and parks the car. He then tells us to make our way through security and go to the gate, where we will meet him. This all sounds good to me, I am an airport pro, after all!
I didn't realize he was about to drop a bombshell.
This next part is where I, a 29 year old female, almost had a full fledged heart attack! My dad, in a tone that resembles the way one speaks of the weather, tells us that if he does not make it to the gate in time that we, my little American brother, my little American sister and my American self are supposed to board the plane and go to little French Paris... without him!
O M G!?!?!
BACK THE TRUCK UP!
Excuse me? I'm supposed to head to this foreign county where they don't speak English, where the words aren't even English words, where I've never been... with two kids in my care??? It was too much for me to take! My blood pressure surely sky rocketed to danger-will-robinson heights!
I tell myself to calm down. After all, I am a pro at airports, and I decide we will just wait for him at the Paris airport. Phew. Crisis averted. Good S.A., Missy. (I even gave myself a little pat on the back.)
My dad then precedes to tell us to head to the hotel and he explained to me how to take buses and trains and metros to the hotel and how to ask, "Where is the bathroom," but all I really heard was "wah-wah-wah-blah-blah-blah," because as soon as I heard I might end up in a foreign, scary country with out a leader, in charge of 2 kids' safety and finding the hotel, I immediately started talking to God!
We get dropped off at the airport and of course, my brother, sister and I make it to our gate and through security all with out a hitch and much to my chagrin, the plane has already started boarding.
As the gate agent is handing us our boarding passes, my cel phone rings. It's my dad. Liam, my brother, takes the boarding passes and he begins scanning them like he is looking for winning lottery numbers. I am not really paying attention to this as I am playing middle man between the gate agent and my dad hoping and praying that we don't have to go to freaken France with out him!
They seem to get things worked out, my dad and the gate agent...but the plane is boarding and he still has a long trek to make and he has instructed us to board.
Crap!
So, there we stand. Liam, Lara, and their fearless leader who is sweating like a pig and blinking back tears. Liam hands me a boarding pass. I glance down at it and notice that he handed me his boarding pass.
Before I continue, let me explain something. My Dad is an airline pilot, so when we fly, we get to fly on stand-by status because it is more affordable. Yes, this can be a little bit stressful; but, if you're rewarded with a first class ticket, the stress is well worth the pay off.
So, there we are in the Atlanta airport, anxiously awaiting the arrival of my Dad. Liam and Lara could actually care less about the situation at hand. Children, they have no fear.
I notice that the other passengers who were boarding the plane were showing the gate agent their passport along with their boarding card. So, I tell Liam that he gave me the wrong ticket. Liam begins emphatically trying to persuade me into keeping his ticket. We get into a little argument, easy to do as I'm already stressed. But, the kid won't give me, his big sister, her boarding pass! Great, I'm thinking, he won't listen to me in America, what's he gonna do when we're in Paris without Dad?
Finally, he relents. He tells me that I didn't get a first class seat; but, he did and he wanted me to have his ticket so I could sit first-class.
Awwwww.
At this point, I have tears in my eyes for a whole other reason.
What a good lil' brother.
To make a long story, well, even longer, we board the plane with out my dad...who is on his way...the gate agent has his ticket and knows he's coming...but still, nervous nelly here was twitching like she was having drug withdrawals!
Low and behold my dad makes the plane and he even scored me a better seat on the plane! I breathe a sigh of relief and pig out, because, after all, I am on vacation.
Phew!
My Dad, as it turns out, led Liam, Lara and me everywhere in France. We followed right behind him so as not to get lost, to get to where we were going, and to make sure we got fed, just like ducklings follow their parent...
