Wednesday, July 13, 2011: Everything is broken

AirTran broke our stroller. We gate checked it in Orlando and when we got it back in Detroit it only had three wheels. Well, to be fair, all four wheels were there, it's just that one of them was snapped off and sitting on top of the folded stroller. The journey from Florida to Michigan was long, so while this wasn't the end of the world, it came at a pretty crappy time. Gavin was very wily on the plane. He would not sit still for anything. He was pretty quiet all things considered, but trying to keep a toddler still for two hours is next to impossible unless he's asleep. And Gavin definitely wasn't. He'd slept the hour and a half ride to the airport so by the time we were on the plane he was in prime GO mode. Stacy and I were both tired out from the trip and I had cramps to boot (thanks, uterus!) so by the time the plane landed, we were all very ready to get off the plane ("Off airplane," Gavin said repeatedly). We even arrived a couple of minutes early! Unfortunately the plane at our gate was running behind and had a mechanical problem to boot so we had to sit on the jetway. After about 20 minutes the captain said that lo and behold there was another gate we could go to so everybody get back in your seats here we go. Alas, when we got to the other gate some part of the big hallway arm that attaches to the plane from the airport wasn't working and we ended up sitting there for another 20 minutes or so. And then the broken stroller.

But I'm getting ahead of myself. Once the plane landed and they said we could safely use our cellphones I called Laura as she was picking us up. She was there, ready to get us. Then she asked me, "You guys have a car seat, right?" This question confused me as there is a car seat in Stacy's van and in my car and she was presumably in one of those vehicles. I say something like, "No, we don't. Why?" and Laura says, "Well, there's no car seat in here and I assumed you had brought one." WTF? Why would the van be sans car seat? I relay this info to Stacy and she, too, is confused. Stacy's brother was the last person to use our van so Laura says that maybe he took it out. "Why would he take it out?" Laura does not know. Stacy also does not know. In fact, she acts very perplexed. Laura is very unhappy about this situation and says something like, "Well, all I know is that there's no car seat here" and I tell her that we absolutely need one and that not having one isn't an option ("It's illegal," Stacy interjects). Well, I'm not going back to get one," Laura says. And no one was happy and she hung up.

When I ask Stacy why the hell would her brother would take the car seat out of the van she says, "I don't know. Let's call him." And so I do. And he says that yes, he did take the car seat out of the van and it was in the house. When I ask why he did that he says that Stacy told him he could because he was taking a bunch of guys to a bachelor party or something. I turn to Stacy. You told him he could take the seat out? And she says, "Yes. He was taking a bunch of guys to some bachelor party or something." Okay, I say to Dave, "Thanks for the information" or something like that. I am crabby at this point. And I am very confused about my wife's confusion about the car seat scenario. I am trying not to be mad at her. I want to get the hell off of this plane. Gavin is being a very good boy, as patient as he can manage.

To make a long story longer, Jamie, further cementing herself as a superhero in Gavin's estimation, drives to our house, gets the car seat, and takes it up to Laura. Then they wait for us, which takes forever because not only do we have to go to the Official TransAir Office of Baggage Sadness (we go down to the office and a sign on the window says, "Go to the ticket counter." We go to the ticket counter, they say, "You have to go downstairs." It's an awesome time. They are going to fix or replace our stroller. We left it there. My money is on never seeing it again), but by this point we are so tired and delirious that we can't find Laura. But then we do and Gavin gives Laura a hug and is super glad to see both of them (did I mention that we're carting around all of our luggage and a toddler without a stroller? I highly recommend doing the airport without a stroller. Everything is better done at the walking pace of a two year old). We make it home at nearly 9 p.m. Gavin takes a bath. He goes to sleep. All is right in the world.

Well, not really. I should make clear that Laura is usually a lot less "to hell with you." We must cut her a lot of slack. While we were gone in Florida her dog, and our dear friend, Emma passed away. She was almost 16 years old. I wish we'd been there to say goodbye and to help Laura. We'll all miss her very much. Even though she left wet nose prints on everything and everybody hated it (even Gavin who, when she'd touch her nose against his arm, would say, "Emma. Nose," in a very unhappy way). Here's a photo of her and Gavin back in January. I'm pretty sure that's the most recent photo we have of the two of them. It's hard to get a dog and a toddler to pose for a photo by themselves, let alone together. In any case, Emma will very much be missed by all of us. Especially Laura. I wish the whole car seat thing hadn't happened because I hate that we added to her stress. But she said Gavin's hug made up for it. He also gave her a Chick-O-Stick. Her favorite. Send her some.