Wednesday, December 09, 2009

Ontario's first winter storm pretty much had its way with us

Holy frack, I am so tired I could spit.

How's that for sticking two awesome little sayings in one sentence?

This morning and last night was Ontario's first biggish winter storm of the season. This morning was the morning that Beth left. By airplane. From the Toronto airport. An hour away from here.

I got up at 5:45 and checked the status of her flight. It was a go although many others were already delayed or cancelled but hers was still 4 hours away.

I woke up the girls and took them to my awesome friend Tamara's house (5 minutes away at the most) who is the absolute best person in the world for reasons you will soon find out. I came back to our house and Beth and I loaded the car and were on the very icy roads by 6:50. And from there we crawled to the Toronto airport. At the 9:30 mark, we were in Milton. Milton! For those of you who know Ontario, you'll know that is crazy! On a regular day I should have been in Milton in about 30 minutes. It took us over two hours to get there. We stopped at a Starbucks there and headed back out. Beth's flight was supposed to leave at 10:13. It was delayed by 15 minutes only and it left the ground without her. We pulled into the airport at 11:00, a full 4 hours after we left Waterloo. On a regular day that should take me an hour, maybe an hour and a half during the morning commute.

For the record, people were driving really smart - and that's why it was so slow - it was a crawl all the way from Waterloo. I did see three accidents - all of them jack-knifed transports in the ditches. No one injured it seemed, which is good.

It took me only an hour to get home and pick up my kids from Tamara WHO HAD LOOKED AFTER THEM FOR SIX HOURS. Along with her own two kids. And that is only one reason as to why she is the best person in the world. I owe her so big.

And so it is 8:30 and the house is a pigsty and I don't care. I'm going to bed.

And as of right now, Beth, who missed her flight, is probably finally boarding her flight in Chicago after having a 5-hour layover there. 5 HOURS! WITH A TWO-YEAR OLD! So if I think I'm tired, it is nothing compared to how she'll be feeling when she gets off that plane in Austin at 11:30 tonight.

5 comments:

Ms. Martin (aka Rez's Librarian) said...

Oh Karen, that's awful...when I saw the storm this morning when I woke up, my first thought was of your trek to T.O...but i had no idea it would be so awful!!

Julie said...

Holy frak is right!

At least Chicago is a nice big airport for lots of running around and tons of stores to look at.

But that doesn't really change the fact that she had 5 hours with a yr old. Hope Beth and Kate survived!

little b said...

It ended up being six hours in Chicago and we didn't land in Austin until 12:30. We left the airport after collecting bags at 1. By the time I went to bed, I'd been awake for 21 hours.

Second worst travel day EVER.

However, Kate was unbelievably great. She had everyone in the waiting areas smiling. Amazing.

Karen said...

OMG, that's terrible, Beth. Another sucky trip back to Austin from here. That rots.

How did Kate do?

Shan said...

Wow what a sucky day for both of you.