The Airport Incident

We arrived safely in Montana with almost no problems. The girls were terrific on the planes, positively wonderful. We received our fair share of compliments on their behavior, though in confined spaces while skipping naps 'good' behavior tends to benefit more from luck than great parenting skills. We were totally prepared with activities, books, snacks, drinks, backpacks (with leashes), though. As well as the ultimate in bribery, should it reach that point: Trader Joe's Organic Lollipops. They only 'needed' one.

Since our arrival, we have enjoyed lots of time at the park, good food, camping!, smores, and of course, the grandparents!!

In the spirit of mommy-honesty: The airport incident, as I am referring to it now, took place during our layover in Chicago. We were parked at the wrong gate, exactly one away from where we needed to be. We stood up to walk to the gate directly to our right. Big Sister decided to race in front of me, so I told her to stop and stand right there. She stood still, looking right at me. Little Sister had been in my arms, and it was at this point that I noticed that she had kicked off one of her sandals. So I turned around and bent down to pick it up.

When I stood up to walk to Big Sister, she was gone.

I quickly closed the 35 feet to where she had been standing. I did a complete circle in my spot, and still couldn't see her. I started to panic in my head. I ran back to where I had been standing before and turned around 360 degrees again. Still no Big Sister. I ran back to her original spot, and at this point I'm certain the panicky words racing through my mind were being verbalized out loud with a cracking voice. "Ohmigod, ohmigod, where did she go? She was just here? Ohmigod, ohmigod, ohmigod..."

A man who was standing next to me said something, but all I caught were the words, "your daughter... over there, right?..." He must have been pointing at the aisle of gates directly across the tiled walking lane, another 35 feet from where I was. I couldn't see anything due to the crying, so he walked me diagonally across to where she was.

Big Sister was standing next to a row of seats, looking a little perplexed as to why Mommy was sobbing, and she was holding the puppy backpack/leash that she should have been wearing and I should have been holding. She had been 'walking' it. I asked her if she was alright, and she said, "I'm fine, Mommy. Why are you crying?" I just hugged her.

She had all her fingers and toes in tact, so we made our way back over to the gate we needed to be sitting at, leash on Big Sister for the entire 30ish feet walk, and proceeded to sit in a circle and color and cry for the duration of our layover. Well, the crying was mostly me. Okay, all me. That had been the longest 90 seconds of my life, and I was going to need a good few minutes to compose myself again.

I didn't bother getting mad at Big Sister, though I was plenty ticked at myself for a while. It happens, though, and in our instance no harm was done. I didn't tell that man thank you for reuniting me with my child, but I hope my sobs of relief let him know how much his actions were appreciated. I'm so very glad the girls were wearing identical outfits. Cheesy, a little, but I wanted anyone seeing them to know they were part of a pair. My identical t-shirt safety idea got much more real for me than I predicted. Point taken!

In case there was any doubt, the girls will totally be wearing their identical outfits on the flights to AZ. With coordinating backpack/leashes. Held in my coordinating magenta death grip.