All Packed Up, But....

I should be going to sleep in Guam about now.  Instead, I find myself waking up in Francis.  (And Perry finds himself still sitting on the suitcase ready to travel!  Perry refuses to leave his post.  It's been a while, and he's not missing it!)  

We worked hard this last week.  Packing...Writing a youth retreat...Gathering last minute VBS materials....Preparing Sermons...Raking Hay....Laundry...Mowing...Cleaning House.   

Excitement had set in--for both of us!  I hadn't really allowed myself to get excited about this summer because with all that was happening in the world...and the fact they could reinstate the mask mandate as quickly as they took it away, I just didn't want to allow disappointment down the road.  But then last Saturday night, I talked to the Buchers.  I learned PIC had new slides. I learned Taste of the Marianas was happening in June, while I was on island!  I found out Maggie and Molly missed me. (Okay, they didn't say that. I just assume the dogs missed me.)  I found out the Pacific Mini Games was happening on Saipan while I was there.  And...well, I was starting to imagine the taste SPAM Fried Rice from Shirley's, a tuna steak burger from Jeff's Pirate Cove, and some lumpia and crispy fried noodle from Troung's.  How could a girl (and a platypus) not get excited!?

I'm down to just a couple of hours before I load everything in the car to head to Tulsa.  The only problem? I'm sick.  It's a sinus infection, I assume.  My sinuses are about to pop from my head.  (Which was going to make a miserably long flight pure torture.)  I'm pretty miserable. But I have pushed through for the last several days in misery, all I had to do was make connections.  

Urgent Care tells me it's Covid-19.  WHAT!? That's impossible!  I'm immune.  A girl who has spent the last 2+ years in a room with spitting kids and hasn't had Covid yet is not getting Covid.  I refused to believe.

So, I drove to Urgent Care #2.  Yep.  I was retested.  Same results. Positive. 

I'm more sick at heart now.  

I spent two different times on the phone with United.  (Jackie from United in Houston is awesome!  Jackie tried so hard.)  There was nothing they could do.  I had a miles ticket.  Not any miles ticket. A ticket in Polaris Business Class.  The good seats.  The good food.  But there wasn't even a seat in coach left for me to use my miles on in a week (or the next month).  I tried late into the night waiting and hoping and praying for a ticket in a few days.  It was literally the last minutes before I canceled that ticket.

It's okay. I have money. I will buy a ticket.  Wow.  In one week how the tickets have increased. I could buy a car for the current price of tickets. (Well, not exactly. But close)

Current plan?  Non-rev.  If I fly to Denver, maybe just maybe I can get out in a couple of days from my brother's house.  After I get well, of course.  Or maybe a miles ticket will pop up. Or maybe tickets under a million dollars will come back.  

There's a lot a maybes.  For now, I nap.  I wallow in the depths of despair with Anne of Green Gables.  (It was time to revisit the girl who understands disappointment as well as any imaginary character.) And I prepare for a youth retreat. Because even if I'm on zoom, we have Catch the Wave: You Matter in Guam this weekend!