Tanta Comes to Visit!

We are all very excited because Tanta is coming to visit today from California. We leave in a few hours to pick her up and Nanni is so excited. Tanta is Nanni's sister - my aunt, and H's great-aunt. Nanni wishes her entire family was here with her, so she is very exicted that Tanta is coming for a visit for a whole week. I thought H would want to come to the airport and see the planes with me, but no - he wants to stay home with Nanni and Pa. Guess Tanta will have to settle with just me picking her up!

Update: H fell asleep so he stayed home with Pa. Good thing, because we ran into manjor problems at the airport. Nanni really wanted to come, but was so worried that she would get tired or not feel well. She convinced herself she could make it if she drove - she likes to be in control :) So, off we went. Since she has a handicap sticker from her knee surgery we got to park right up front. Piece of cake so far. Then, we get inside to take a look at the arrival board. Its flashing so fast, I can't find her flight. When I think I see it the board says "Now 4:41." What??? Her flight was to be in at 2:50 and we chose that one specifically so she wouldn't loose a day. She hadn't called...what is going on. So, Nanni marches up to the Delta counter and cuts in front of everyone to find out what is going on. The Delta person said they were in the sky, but there were technical delays. My guess was that Tanta fell asleep and didn't even know she was delayed...gee, how right I was!

So, we wait. I offer to take Nanni home and she said no, we will just try to see what happens. As the time nears, I go check the board a million times. Then, at the time when it is supposed to leave, the flight disappears from the board. We figure it must have come in early and we must have missed her so we head to baggage claim, but there is not sign with her flight on it. We wait 40 minutes then really start to panic. I kept thinking what if something happened...would Delta just take the flight off without saying anything. So, what do we do......Nanni goes back and cuts in front of about 1000 people stating loudly that a flight was missing! She got their attention!!!

We were told that b/c it had been raining and storming about 2 hours earlier that a bunch of flights were in a holding pattern over Atlanta. Ok, so we sit down again. I tell Nanni that I will take her home and come back, but she said no it should only be a few minutes. Anyway....as we are sitting down about 30 minutes pass and the phone rings. Its Tanta and guess where she is ... Tennessee! What, Tennessee...what are you doing there? She said the pilot said the Atlanta airport was closed...can't figure that out b/c we were sitting under an atrium and the storm didn't look that bad and we couldn't tell.

Turns out Tanta fell asleep in LA at checkin and they gave her seat away...then, she woke up and started to run down the tunnel and they said she couldn't come in...then, she talked her way onto the plane...then, she fell asleep again only to find herself in Tennessee!

So, we waited, waited and waited until she came out of the gate at 7:30. Poor Nanni was so tired, but I kept telling her ... see, what you can do! We were exhausted, but the day got worse when we tried to get her bag. I have never seen anything like it at an airport. She bags were flying off the turnstyle and knocking people over...someone smelled like dead person ... and we stood there for an hour only to not find her bag. Then, we looked up and realized the flight was off the screen. What?? Tanta asked the guys standing on the turnstyle and apparently they diverted her flight's luggage to another turnstyle but didn't tell anyone. So over we go and there it is just waiting for us!

We got home about 9:30 and H was so thrilled to see Tanta...especially since she spoils him so much!