I've never been as happy to set foot in Cincinnati as I was on Saturday.

I was scheduled to fly into CVG from LAX on the red eye on Friday night. Instead, the flight was booked and I was left waiting with my standby ticket. It was the saddest moment ever as I watched the airplane pull away from the gate without me on it. I was so excited to see Todd and being unsure about how I was going to get to Cincinnati made it all the more stressful. The Delta employees suggested I take a shuttle to the Orange County airport since it would be the only chance I would get to actually be able to leave that weekend. I was nervous, but I decided to test my luck and go to Orange County. I tried to catch some z's on the floor of LAX before taking a cab to Orange County. I can assure you that sleeping on the floor of an airport is no fun.

At 3:00am I saw a bunch of people getting off a plane and followed them out. By complete chance I met a woman who was ALSO trying to get to Orange County airport so we split a cab. Once I arrived, I tried to sleep on the floor of the Orange County airport and it was no easier. Getting my ticket changed was easy, but stressful, and I was waiting at the gate with plenty of time to spare. I was calling Todd every few minutes, giving him my updates, and crying, contemplating spending $750 to guarantee getting me to Cincinnati. (yeesh! expensive ticket!)

Due to a security emergency, and the entire airport being shut down for about 40 minutes I got the LAST seat on the plane (because there were some people who did not make it through security in time). Unfortunately that plane was only taking me to Atlanta, not Cincinnati, but still, at least I was in the same time zone.

On the plane I dozed in and out of sleep. I was so exhausted but uncomfortable that I was having lucid-like dreaming, I kept imagining that I was on the school bus that I rode to my school in Watts this summer where I taught. Everytime somebody spoke on the plane I thought it was Stephanie or Marlene or Amanda or Neil or Tom or Jessica or somebody else that I rode the school bus with everyday. When I heard children's voices I thought I heard Vanessa or Ariel or Raymond or Alfredo or Jose or Sasha, my students this summer.

When I arrived to Atlanta I was feeling confident with my luck for the day and expected to hop right on the next plane to Cincinnati. I kept the mindset that karma would help me out so I was exceptionally kind to the Delta employees who were varying levels of helpful. I met a man who was travelling standby with a sick 6 year old and was friendly with the child and the father. He helped me to hop from gate to gate when I did not get on the planes to Cincinnati. I was so stressed out and feeling very defeated when I was unable to get on the 4th flight to Cincinnati. I was crying and ready to just pay the $750 to assure myself a ticket. I called the delta ticket people and the man on the other line refused to sell me a ticket. He said that the next flight to Cincinnati had 50 open seats and there was no way that I would not get on that flight. He was right. I was on a flight to Cincinnati a mere 20 hours after I first arrived at LAX.

When I arrived in Cincinnati I had never been happier. I hopped in my car and planned to drive strraight through to Todd in St. Louis. But, alas, I realized soon that after a night in an airport I was in no condition to be driving for 5 hours at night. So I stopped at my uncle's house and asked to take a nap. I expected to just take a cat nap, maybe 5 hours, tops. Todd woke me up 12 hours later by calling my cell phone. I was exhausted.

My drive to St. Louis was uneventful. I arrived much later than I wanted but I'm here and I'm safe. I am so happy to be here, despite the 100 degree weather (plus humidity). Our new place is awesome and I am so happy to be living in such a great location. It's hard to get used to such a big place. Our kitchen is so far from our living room. It's strange when we cooked dinner today. Todd and his parents did a great job moving all our stuff. I am so grateful to them for all their hard work.

I began my orientation for my school today. I'll be teaching 3rd grade in two weeks and it scares the bejezus out of me. If I could just have a few days off to relax I think I would feel so much better about beginning the school year. I'm going to begin my masters degree in two weeks as well, so there will be no rest for me for a while.

I'll post some picks of St Louis when I get the chance. In the meantime, you can stay posted in my life (which will be nothing but teaching) at my new blog: www.showmeteachmeblogme.wordpress.com