"the captain would like to buy those for ya . . ."

Before I get ahead of myself and our story, I want to remind anyone not familiar with following BLOGS, that the most current "post" is always at the top. So, if you are just finding out about too funny, you may want to go back to in the beginning, literally, or you will be lost and this won't be too funny! Just a little Group Therapy housekeeping . . .

Okay, so we are RUNNING through the airport concourse, trying not to miss this ALL important flight to Houston. It is getting pretty late in the day, and looking like we won't be waking up in Cabo San Lucas the next morning. Keep in mind, I have just spent the last hour and 25 minutes, having one of the biggest pity parties I have ever thrown for myself, squeezed in between two unsuspecting females, enjoying a perfectly normal flight to Dallas. I'm fighting back the tears,  mumbling to myself about how miserable I am and how could I have been sooooo stupid??? It was the longest flight I can ever remember taking. I never uttered a word to either of my row buddies. I just closed my eyes and prayed that Samantha and Charlotte weren't as upset with me as I was!

Fast forward again, to the plane touching down, gathering our carry-ons and rushing up the jetway to head to our next gate, only to find we are late (remember the departure delay) and the next flight is about to take off. As you probably would suspect, the same two heroes in Birmingham were there to support me and assure me that this trip was never about the destination, it was always about the journey and the three of us experiencing it together. (See why they are life-long friends?) So arm-in-arm we RUN.

As we approach the gate, out of breath, having hot flashes, stressed beyond belief, we are stopped by a very friendly man in a white uniform. Before he asks for our boarding passes, he takes a mental snapshot of the three of us and says, "Group Therapy? What is group therapy?" I am in no mood to be friendly or polite or communicative  to anyone, especially not the guy taking up our boarding passes. All I want to do is GET ON THE PLANE. Charlotte, sweet Charlotte is the first to speak. Out of breath she tells him that he wouldn't believe where we had been and what had happened to us and then Samantha chimes in that our travel agent had messed our tickets up and we were supposed to be going to Mexico, but instead were routed to San Jose California . . . I couldn't take another word . . . I bullied right up in front and said, "No sir, I'm the idiot travel agent she is referring to and I'm not really a travel agent anyway and I screwed this whole trip up and we just need to get to Houston to try to get to Mexico and this was supposed to be a birthday celebration for our 50th birthdays and . . . I took a breath and he just smiled and said, "I've heard."

He heard?

Once we went to the very back of the plane, because there were very few seats available, and everyone looked at us like we were holding them up, because, of course, we were, we sat down, me in the middle and took one collective deep breath! (in that ridiculously long, run-on sentence - sorry Melinda - I forgot to add that we insisted that a young woman give up her seat so we could sit together . . . not winning any friends on this flight!)

As we prepared to take off, I started to feel some of the stress evaporate. My main worry was for my friends. If they were okay, I was okay. Once we were in the air, the flight attendant came all the way down the aisle to ask if we wanted anything to drink. We didn't notice that she didn't ask anyone else on her way to the back of the plane. Again, we let out a collective YES . . . we had been thinking about our first drink on the first leg of our adventure for months. This inaugural drink would signify the start of our trip! Only, this wasn't the first leg of our trip and we had no idea, at this point, when or if we would actually make it to Cabo San Lucas. But for now, this was going to be the best tasting adult beverage we could have! After placing the order, which I, the travel agent blurted out for the three of us, the flight attendant simply said, "and the captain would like to buy those for ya!" The captain?

As you may have guessed by now, the friendly fellow who took up our boarding passes was the Captain. I suppose that the group in Birmingham felt sorry enough for our plight, to phone ahead to Dallas and prepare them for the three, 50 year old women, in matching get-ups, on their way to Mexico. They knew what I hadn't known when booking the original tickets . . . Southwest doesn't fly to Mexico! Captain Ernie greeted us when we landed for a photo op and even escorted us through Hobby airport in Houston to find the shuttle that would take us to Bush International airport in Houston, so we could hopefully catch a flight to San Jose del Cabo the next morning. Can you imagine? 


(One more disclaimer: Only one of us was 50 that day. One of us was about to celebrate her 49th birthday the following day and the other one would turn 50 the following month. So when I refer to all of us being 50, just go with the flow.)

To be continued . . . 

Group Therapy & Captain Ernie with sweet flight attendant