“You can turn the light on here, and there’s washer and dryer if you need them…”
“Great, thanks so much. Have a good night!”
“You too, and please text me if you need anything!”
“We will, thanks!”
…
Friday morning was an interesting one. I hadn’t gotten much sleep the night before, as I’ve lost my bedroom bed at my parents house to a 4 month old kitten named Elvira. Now while I love this new cat, I hate my parents living room couch. No one really uses the living room anyway, except for Elvira who loves to roll around on the carpet. My old mattress is on the floor of Elvira’s room anyways, so it really doesn’t matter between that or the couch – sleeping at my parents isn’t the best (sorry Mom & Dad ).
I think I fell asleep between four and five am, shortly after Elvira came bounding in chasing shadows. She’s definitely a 2.0 version of my cat. My alarm went off at seven, but I didn’t get up just yet. Mom came in a few minutes later:
“Hey, Kid..” Kid? I’m going to be thirty soon, who is she kidding?
“Yep, I’m awake, you know it’s hard to sleep in this house.” I said getting up even though I didn’t really want to yet.
I had brought laundry home and packed the night before, with help from the cat. I grabbed the jeans and shirt I’d left out to wear on the plane: standard black off the shoulder shirt, blue “skinny” type jeans, and my favorite pair of below the knee black boots. Usually I wear slip-ons, but the boots weigh my suitcase down and I find that they’re just as easy to take on and off at the airport security line (zip up, zip down).
I did my usual run-around-get-ready-multi-task-morning-routine. Ten minutes max is how long it takes me to get ready no matter what the morning is bringing. This morning was bringing a car cleaning, a taxi to the airport, waiting for the plane, and a plane ride to New Orleans, Louisiana.
“Dad can you please get a trash bag for me?” I said putting my hair up.
“What kind do you need, the big one or the white one?”
“Big one, just in case…” I replied. I’d finished my hair, moved on to checking my mobile pass, and was now half way out the door to empty out my car.
Emptying the car didn’t take that long as I tend to move quickly when motivated by time. After about fifteen minutes it was ready to be taken to the shop on Monday. I was having the brakes checked while I was gone since they’d been making some serious grinding noises the past couple months. 7 years old and completely owned by me – I don’t have enough money in the bank to buy a new car and I do not want to get involved with any car payments right now, so fixing things is all I can do. I’m just hoping it doesn’t cost me a ton of money.
“Here’s the trash..” I said to Dad.
“Oh just put that out front in the bin.”
“Oh right.” I went back out front. As I was putting the bag in I thought I heard my dad calling again. I looked back – the door was wide open!
“Shit.” I shoved the bag in the bin and high tailed it back up to the house. “Dad! What are you doing? I do not have time to chase your cat down the street this morning…”
“She’s in her room.” He pointed to the-room-formerly-known-as-mine.
My heart was racing. A few months ago, Elvira had run out of the house because he had forgotten to close the door. It was a stressful day, as I had to leave work and come home. Luckily she had come home and after arguing with the neighbor ( a very rude woman ), I finally caught her. I was not in the mood to do that again.
“Oh, geez. Don’t do that.” I said, breathing heavily and slowly to calm my heart down.
8am. Still a half hour before the taxi would be there. I think I was just sitting and waiting. Keeping busy with my phone and wandering around the house. Finally I saw the taxi, and got the update on my phone. I grabbed my stuff and called for mom – twice.
We got to the airport and waited a relatively decent line for security. I don’t wear any metals just in case, so my security check goes smoothly as usual. Sometimes I get checked twice because apparently I look like I might be carrying something illegal – but not this time. I grabbed my stuff, and threw on my boots quickly. One boot wouldn’t zip. Of course.
I stepped aside and then went to look for Mom. She was sitting in the middle. As we sat I looked around for the gate numbers we were near. Ours was right there, so it wasn’t a big deal. We still had two hours before our flight. I sat trying to fix my boot. The zipper was caught on the material flap just inside. Mom had boots too but hers were easier. After a few minutes, of twists and pulls, and having to listen some very girly girls (one with a dog in her purse) standing nearby talking about all sorts of pointlessness, I fixed the zipper.
I lead mom over to one of the charging sections at our gate. We sat down and she went back over to the coffee place to get us some drinks. It was nice not having to carry all my stuff plus try to get something before my flight. I just got to sit, watch our things and read.
“Drinks cost two dollars more here.” Mom came back over to dig for some cash. She hasn’t gotten used to the whole credit card thing like the rest of the world.
“Oh, ha, ya airport. Thanks, Mom.”
She came back shortly with our tea. Yay tea. We sat and chatted. I don’t usually talk much since I travel alone so often, but we also don’t get a lot of time like this so it was good for us.
The hours flew by in the airport and one the plane. I read, she read. We talked a bit. She played some games on her iPad, I played some games on mine. I watched some movies on my iPod – the classic iPod with the tiny screen that was not a touchscreen. Yay for NCIS, FireFly, Iron Man, and Maverick. I think that’s four different genres and I’m leaving out the Disney movies, Midnight in Paris, and couple others too. Inflight wifi was helpful, as Mom wanted to know where we were. She slept some but I did not. This flight didn’t have a tv on it, which to me meant it was and oooollllddddd plane.
We landed, I gave the pilot an A- for the landing, he took a very long time descending – felt kind of like it was his first time landing a plane. Not that I know how to land a plane but I feel like I’ve been on enough to know a good one from a bad one.
We got a taxi, and after a few tries to tell him the address, we finally made it to my host house. He got out and checked to make sure we were where we needed to be. We told him thanks, and Mom paid him. I looked around. I couldn’t see the address on the house we were in front of. I walked a bit down, and back until my eye caught some broken painted tile numbers laying on the top stoop of a purple trimmed house.
“Here it is.” Mom was standing around. She seemed worried, but I suppose she had a right to be, I mean…it was dark and we were in a strange neighborhood and didn’t know which house it was. Makes sense.
I knocked and rang the bell of the old quirky house. No one came to the door. I texted the host and a few minutes later she said she was a minute away. A red car pulled up quickly in front. An older blonde woman got out and another younger girl got out of the driver’s side. I felt bad for making her feel rushed.
I’m not really sure what happened the next few minutes, she talked so much as she led us through the side gate and to the back of her house. The back house was a small studio, with excellent handcarved style wood floors, a small but new kitchenette with a great shower in a small bathroom. The furniture was a nice mix of a new and old, with some light green spread throughout. A couple mirrors and New Orleans inspired art added to the wall decor. My favorite was the sidetable to the bed, it looked old, but it might have been new. It had what looked to be carved bindings from books in the metal; Some words, and years in rectangles. 1998 was one of the years – clearly it was new made to look old, but I still found it interesting.
She showed us everything in the apt: from what was in all the cupboards in the kitchenette, to the fridge to the bathroom to the books she had on the table. Mom started asking her questions because she only had one full day here before going home on Sunday, and didn’t want to waste it. Our host, Karen, went on and on about plantations and etc, with mom. She was definitely well informed, helpful, and full of advice.
She then ran out and had me follow her to the back porch where she showed me how to turn the back light on and off. It was next to the washer and dryer, which will be handy if I run out of the clothes I bought – but since I’m a pro-packer, I should have enough clothes to last me the week (or even three).
After she showed us the washer and dryer, we said good night. Mom and I decided we weren’t hungry so the evening’s plan became to just stay in to play cards and watch a movie.
Day 1 of New Orleans was almost done, with Day 2 on deck.