The summer after my 16th birthday my sister was due to deliver her first baby, and I was so excited that I just couldn’t take it. The only problem was that my Mom had flown up a few weeks before school let out to be with her, and my Dad couldn’t leave the business during the busy season. Translation: if I wanted to see the baby, then I was flying up on my own. All the way from Knoxville, TN to Anchorage, AK!
And I wasn’t bothered by it. After all, it’s not like this was my first trip. So my Dad took me to the airport and signed me up as an unaccompanied minor. He knew that I could handle it, but wanted to just make sure than someone would be checking on me.
Everything went great until I hit Chicago, wind, rain, hail, all of the makings of one crazy storm in the exact location that I needed to fly out of. So at roughly 2:00am Delta canceled the flight. I quickly made my way to the ticket counter to schedule my flight for the next day only... read more >>
Children Travel Stories
One weekend, in an effort to escape the long hours of being a freelance writer, I traveled twenty minutes away to stay at my parents’ house. My sister, eager to share news of her second pregnancy, had also come into town. With our combined 3 children, all under the age of six, we dove into what would be another fun and relaxing two days of eating and chatting. Friday night, as usual, we stayed up late watching movies from our youth. I never get tired of Chevy Chase in his “vacation” comedies. As I type, I have a clear picture of him with white dress shoes and overly tan features. I am sure there are plenty of people out there who, like my family, look forward to Christmas Vacation like others look forward to eggnog or sugar cookies. It is our tradition and we treasure the laughs. This night was no different. We watched the movie as long as we could and laughed in sync to the same pranks and goofs that had hooked us twenty years ago. At about midnight, we both were asleep. She was in my... read more >>