Today marks our one year and one day anniversary. A year ago today, Sam and I gathered with our families to eat (of course) and to open wedding presents, and to get in some last-minute bonding with those who had to get back to their homes in far-away places. I say that because I like the way it sounds, but don’t go thinking we had guests flying in from Cambodia – we just don’t run in those jetsetter circles. The only foreign country directly represented was Canada. Full disclosure.
It’s hard to believe it’s been a year. In some ways it seems shorter – the experiences and numerous changes we’ve had have made the time pass so quickly. In others it seems longer – the wedding itself seems so far away in time, probably partly due to being so far away in space.
To celebrate our anniversary, we took Friday off, and headed to the waterpark. I know, some of you may be thinking, “Gross! And they’re in public health. Don’t they know any better?” Others of you may be thinking, “Fun!” The fact that we went indicates our thinking is more in line with you in the second group. Tempered with steering our minds away from the things by which we might be disgusted. We thought it would be an appropriate thing to do since we went to a waterpark in the Dells last year, on our way back from Door County, Wisconsin. Door County was supposed to serve as a mini-honeymoon, since we were planning to take a honeymoon to Hawaii later in the year, when we would be happy to get away from the Chicago winter, and weren’t recovering from the stress of the wedding planning. But then we moved here instead.
Saturday involved some beach time, and a nice dinner, accompanied by yummy non-alcoholic citrus mojitos. We then watched Monsoon Wedding, while eating cherry frozen yogurt made in our new ice cream maker. Thanks Mom/Millie Mo Jan and Pop(s)! Time spent in Door County involved lots of cherries, eaten in various forms. This weekend, we had planned to eat cherry pie as well, but there’s only so much space in the tummy.
So yesterday, the anniversary itself – we went to church, said bye to some friends that are leaving town, went to breakfast at our regular place, and went to the airport. Yes, that does say airport, on our anniversary.
Sam was hoping for a blessing at church, since often the mass ends with the priest asking if anyone is celebrating a birthday or anniversary that week. But that didn’t happen yesterday. I was kind of relieved, since I was nervous about going in front of the church and getting blessed by a priest I haven’t personally met. What if later he found out I was a Baha’i, and felt deceived? Or what if he did the special for-Catholics-only blessing? Ultimately though, I was disappointed since it was something Sam wanted.
Midday, we went to the airport, so Sam could fly to L.A. – he’s got a training until the end of next week. A sad day, indeed, when one has to say goodbye to one’s spouse midway through one’s wedding anniversary. But when you live all the way out here, and the training starts Monday morning, the options are limited. On the bright side, we spent a lot of time together at the airport. On the gray side, it was time spent in a freaking-long line. I must recount to you the experience.
We go to the American Airlines counter. There’s no line, so that’s pretty smooth. Sam gets his boarding pass, and the baggage ticket attached to his bag. But we’d forgotten to go through Agriculture, so we ran his bag through that machine and got that sticker, and then dropped the bag off at American. Also quite smooth. And then, we’re ready for him to head to the gate. And that’s when we realize that all the people who seem to be milling about inside and outside are actually in a line, and that line is the line to the gates. So we get at the end of this snake, that we estimated to be 600 to 700 people, though it may have been more. It’s about an hour until his flight is supposed to take off, and I was concerned that there didn’t seem to be anyone coming through, checking for passengers that really needed to get on planes. So, to quell my anxieties, I asked an American representative what would happen since there were at least 500 people between my husband and the security check and his flight. She assured me that someone would come through the line calling for his flight, prior to takeoff. So, I calmed down and waited with him. And waited. About 30 minutes before his scheduled departure, someone comes through calling for his flight, stamps his ticket, and tells him to stand in the special “gold” line. So we move to a line of about 100 people, parallel to the line of 600 people, all waiting to get through security. Yes, this would normally be around the time that they’re calling the middle of the plane, and Sam’s still out in the lobby of the airport. He, being more relaxed than me, was not concerned. And I decided I didn’t need to be concerned, since everyone around us was on his flight, and it would be silly of the plane to take off with so many of its passengers on the ground. I still couldn’t figure out why the line was so slow moving, and I hate inefficiency, so I had to go confirm for myself that there was not some bizarre strip routine going on at the security checkpoint. Or a nap break.
With 15 minutes to go, an American representative comes and takes the 50 or so people from Sam’s flight to another security point. Here, we stand in line again. And then, a Northwestern representative puts a rope in front of our line and slides 40 people ahead of us. At that point, the American representative and the Northwestern representative had a little argument. And I had to check again what was going on at the checkpoint. And confirm in my mind that there was no increase in the threat level. And started to contemplate calling the airport to work with them on their procedures.
Finally, the assurance that everyone had been waiting for – someone came and told us that they were going to hold the plane for the passengers, as long as they didn’t make any detours on the way to the gate. As the guy in front of us sarcastically said, “Yeah, I’m going to stop and get some coffee.” Please!
Sam got to L.A., safe and sound.
Posted by Shokufeh at July 21, 2003 12:05 PM