Going Home

Shortly after writing my last post, my Grandma Betty passed away. I had told my dad I wanted him to call me, no matter what time it was, to tell me himself. The last thing I wanted was to receive a "Grandma is dead" email or voice mail. I brought our house phone into the bedroom with me when we went to bed. It took me a long time to fall asleep as I was just waiting for the phone to ring. Somehow I fell asleep, and managed to even sleep in the morning. I was confused when I woke up. Why hadn't my dad called? Was Grandma still hanging in there? That's when I realized the batteries on the cordless phone had died. I went to put the phone on the charger and the light of the answering machine was blinking. Damn it. The one thing I didn't want to happen, happened.

This is where my impatience kicked in. I am a person, especially in situations like this, who likes to plan. Planning and organizing are therapeutic to me. I can't control what is going on or what has happened, but I can plan every detail around it. However, when I received the message about Grandma it was midnight back home in Montana. There was no one to call. There was no way to know what to do. I called Josh at work to tell him. He started the paperwork I'd need to take a military hop home, but he needed travel dates to plug in. I didn't have any dates to tell him since I wasn't sure when anything was going to happen. I had nothing to do but sit and wait for it to be a reasonable hour in Montana to call my parents. It was a miserable few hours which seems to take days to pass by. When I did call my parents, beyond knowing that Grandma had passed away, they didn't know anything. No funeral date had been agreed upon. My dad was pushing for a date after New Years for everyone who would have to travel (not just me, but my aunt and uncle as well). Ugh. More sitting around. I just wish I had something constructive to do. I should have channeled this energy into school work, but I wasn't able to get myself to focus. Instead I cooked.

On Tuesday my dad informed me Grandma's funeral would be the first week of January, although he wasn't sure of a specific date. At least I had a time frame to work with. I had looked more into military flights home. I have heard mixed reviews from people who have flown on hops. Some people love them, other people have had bad experiences. The biggest complaint about hops is that you are never guaranteed a spot on the flight, they only let on people at the last minute with what space is available. You never know if you will have a seat, and if you don't get out on this flight you have to wait for the next one. I have heard stories of people getting stuck at a base for a few days waiting to get a flight out. I've also heard of people who have had to rent a car to drive to another base because there was no way to get out of the base they were at. I already knew my impatience and control freak tendencies would be challenged by this. Since I was flying home because of a death in the family, I would have a higher "classification" than people who were flying just to travel. This higher status would give me more of a guarantee of a spot on a flight. Hops fly into different bases around the world. The closest base I could fly into would be McCord Air Base near Seattle. I researched this base online... and discovered after flying in there I'd have to find a way to the Seattle airport (kindness of strangers, be lucky enough to find a shuttle, or hire a taxi). A flight from Seattle to Missoula on Horizon Air (the most practical choice) was running close to $300 roundtrip. The problem is I couldn't buy a ticket in advance because I couldn't be 100% sure what time I would be getting to Seattle. The more I thought about all the uncertainty of flying on a hop... I realized it wasn't the right option for me. If I was going to take time off of work to go home, I wanted to spend as much time at home with my family as possible, not wasting time waiting around to get on a plane (which I may or may not be able to get on).

I started searching online using my cyber skills to find a plane ticket. I was prepared knowing my ticket might be extremely expensive. At first I could find reasonable tickets... as long as I was willing to have a 15 hour layover in an airport. Hmm. No thanks. After quite a bit of playing around with dates and airports (I had the option of flying out of Frankfurt or Luxembourg City and I could fly into Missoula or Great Falls) I found a ticket without crazy layovers for $1100. Flying overseas and into a small, poe-dunk airport like Missoula $1100 is a great price.

The next step would be to figure out things with work. I was shocked to discover within making three phone calls everything was taken care of. I called both of the hygienists I work with, followed by the office manager. The girls I work with are amazing. They were willing to cover my shifts - no questions asked. The office manager even asked me, multiple times, if I was sure I was taking enough time for myself. She has also offered multiple times this past week to give me more days off this next few weeks prior to me leaving to have "personal time." I honestly would like to stay as busy as possible and not be able to think. However, I appreciate her sympathy and understanding. It is a refreshing difference from what I have experienced in the past at other jobs. I feel so blessed to be surrounded by supportive people.

The days are ticking down until I leave. I work all week this coming week, and then get to enjoy Christmas with Josh (and some friends). I go right back to work for a few days and then leave on the 30th. It is still a bit away, yet I know it will be here soon. Probably a bit quicker than I am ready for. I'm already starting to set things aside and pack so I'm not rushed at the last minute. I feel such mixed emotions. I'm glad to have the chance to go be with my family. I'm excited to see everyone. I just wish it wasn't under these circumstances.