Merry Christmas and Happy New Year

Today is December 25th and we are back in NC after a week of visiting.
The trip was harrowing to say the least. Let me explain.

It started off well....
On December 19th we left Raleigh Durham airport on time at 6am aboard a USAirways flight bound for La Guardia. We arrived on time, got our rental car on time and headed to Manhattan as the first flurries started to fall. So far so good.... We headed to a Barnes and Noble to pick up the last of the Christmas gifts for the grand nieces and nephew and then to my hair cut appointment with my NYC hairdresser who had to save me from my bad NC haircuts. After that, we met up with Erdem and Hale, our Turkish friends, at the Phillips Beth Israel School of Nursing where I used to work and then off to a Belgian restaurant for a fabulous lunch and laughter. Hale is feeling good and her baby bump is a girl!!! A new American citizen is due in April. But the snow was thickening and we had to head out about 40 miles to North Babylon, so we left at 2:30 and ended up crawling on the LIE etc etc etc... We arrived at Myron's sister's house at 6pm!!!
Anyway after a great Italian dinner we hit the sack and awoke to a snowy day on Saturday.

We headed out to visit Myron's Mom at her new assisted living home and found it lovely. She is very happy there and was so surprised to see us. Nick and Alaina have an incredible Christmas display on their lawn. I think it is a Long Island thing because we saw many homes with lawns completely covered with decorations and lights. Actually Nick said his electric bill climbs considerably in December because of the lights!!!
Giavanna, Michael and Diane's new daughter is cute and good.... a terrific combination.

On with the trials of travel......
On Sunday morning we left Long Island and drove in off and on freezing rain to LaGuardia airport to catch an 11 oclock flight to Burlington Vermont to visit my sons, Jeff and Sean and also to stay with friends Lynne and Jim DePaolo. The plane was at the gate and we were told we would board in 10 minutes.... super! But within 5 minutes of that announcement, they cancelled the flight !!! Too much snow in Burlington!!! I ran to the desk to try to reschedule and Myron started dialing USAirways. NO FLIGHTS AVAILABLE UNTIL THE NEXT DAY! So I said, "What the heck, let us rent a car and drive." Myron shrugged and said "Ok." ( Thank God, he didn't know what I knew about driving in a blizzard in Vermont or he might have reconsidered.)

I was desperate to see my sons because I wouldn't be seeing them for quite awhile and it was Sean's Birthday on the 23rd. As we were collecting our bags to make it to the car rental area, I spied a very forlorn looking couple. They were around my oldest son's age and looked totally confused as to what to do. So in the Christmas spirit,I asked them if they were willing to drive with us to Burlington ( 320 miles). They checked us out and determined we weren't axe murderers or interested in having them for sex slaves so they agreed. We scurried to collect our checked bags and Myron and I tried calling Hertz, Budget, Dollar, Avis and Enterprise for a car.... No one would let us take a car one way.... Hertz said they didnt have any in NYC at all... So... I called Avis again and lied and said to the Avis agent on the phone I would use the car locally and return it to the same office. I was able to reserve a car and pick it up in 45 minutes. Hallelujah!!!

We got the car, after again stating that it would be used locally and hurried to start the trip before we would get snowed out! It was a brand new front wheel drive Malibu!!! New all season tires and anti locking brakes... plenty of room and I had high hopes we would make it through the Donner passes of Vermont!

Tim and Holly, our passengers, were mildly anxious, but we told stories and taught life lessons about travelling the not so friendly skies.... Myron started the driving. It rained in NY, sleeted and started to snow in CT, snowed hard in Massachusetts where I took over driving near the Vermont border. For 6 years I commuted this route in all kinds of weather, so I knew every hill, every curve, every bad spot for plowing and every exit for gas, coffee and bio breaks. We proceeded through blinding snow, snow ruts and whiteouts from semi rigs passing us. The car was terrific, the visibility awful and the white knuckles glowed, but we braved it all and laughed to ease the anxiety. Tim's parents were going to meet us in the Mobil gas station in Waterbury and he kept texting them to keep them posted as to our progress... 9 hours later we arrived!

We all got out of the car, hugged and wished Merry Christmases! Tim's parents were so happy they gave us cookies and a beautiful ornament for our tree... What a mitzvah!!!
We arrived 30 minutes later at our friend's house. Lynne made us soup and we had some wine and then crashed.

I had forgotten how cold it gets in VT, it hung around 6-14 degrees all day.... my blood had thinned for sure in the southern climes.
The rest of our time in Vermont was spent with Jim and Lynne, Jeff, and Sean's birthday party at Sean and Liz's new home in Johnson. Additonally, Myron and I were invited to Skip and Marilyn Rosskam's for lunch. They own a vacation home in Stowe and Myron is doing some consulting for Skip's company. So all in all we had a pleasant time.

On Christmas Eve, we headed to the airport for a 1:30 flight and left the car at the Avis office there. No problem but $250.00 one way rental fee was added to our charges. Such is life...
The flight to Philadelphia was on time!
When we got to Philly, our connecting flight was on time and we headed to the gate. Here comes the best tale!
As we handed our boarding pass to the woman, she said, " Sorry I have to change your seats."
I said, "What?! Why?"
She said, " I am not discriminating but we can only give Exit rows to people who ...., I am not discriminating, but you are older. We have rules."
I thought I was going to explode, Myron was actually laughing. We had had exit rows on all our flights and never did anyone ever question our ability to open the damn exit door in the plane! I mean, we work out regularly, go to spinning classes, lift weights, run on treadmills etc etc etc!!! I would venture to say that we are in better shape than most of the people on the damn plane who eat Burger King, McDonalds and weigh 200 pounds!!!
I then yelled at her , "Wait a minute, I am not OLD!" I was incredulous and Myron wanted to see me go balistic.
At that moment, another ground crew came to the desk and asked what was wrong. The woman said that " I am not discriminating , I am following the rules about the exit rows."
I said," What rules, where does it say....?"
The man looked incredulously at both of us and then simply asked us if we were capable of performing the duties of a passenger in the exit row.
We both chorused" Yes"
He told her that we could board.
I was pissed, but Myron found the whole thing totally humorous.
The man followed up up the jetway and apologized. He didn't understand what she was doing.
He said, "you get what you pay for."
Myron simply replied, " At least she is not flying the plane."
We settled into our EXIT Row seats.
Within 5 minutes, the woman came onto the plane and came to us and she appeared as if she was about to cry. She apologized for the confusion and said that she was going to offer us First Class seats . The "old people" moved to First Class! It was all too funny after I stopped fuming.
We arrived in warm NC... 64 degrees .. I really forgot how cold weather is painful.
Thanks to Julianne's Christmas present, Myron and I enjoyed a terrific meal on Christmas Eve at Four Square Restaurant in Durham!

I can't wait for the next adventure!!
BTW ... the cancelled leg of the trip refund equalized the one way car rental fee! We love America!

Merry Christmas to all and a Happy New Year....