Thursday was our fourth wedding anniversary. I planned my return trip from Michigan so that I would arrive home at 8 PM for an official anniversary greeting and then Jay would take off Friday and we would do something special together.
But my best laid plans went to the mice shortly after I arrived at the Flint airport on Thursday afternoon and found there were mechanical problems that would prevent me from getting to my connecting flight in Cleveland. The airport ticket agent quickly shuttled me, along with several other passengers, via a taxi, to the Lansing airport to catch a flight to Chicago.
We arrived in Lansing only to find the flight coming to get us from Chicago was also delayed due to mechanical problems. The man behind the counter figured the schedule change would most likely cause me to miss the last Phoenix-bound flight out of The Windy City along with any hope of seeing my husband on our anniversary. He gave me the option of returning "home" (now a further distance than when Grace dropped me off at the Flint airport) and coming back to try again on Friday, or flying Chicago to spend the night. He explained that because the problem was mechanical (the airline's fault) and not weather related (an act of God) I "should" be given overnight hotel accommodations in Chicago). Not having much of a choice at that point, I went for the Chicago option and spent a couple of hours and the majority of the battery change on my tablet waiting for the puddle jumper to Illinois.
We chased the sunset over lake Michigan as we flew west to Chicago.
When we arrived in Chicago it was 9 PM local time. My 8 o'clock Phoenix connection was well on it's way without me. The food vendors were cleaning their grills and closing up shop as I waited my turn in line at the busy customer service counter. I was given the opportunity to take the scenic route home via San Francisco and arrive in Phoenix at 8 AM on Friday morning. I figured moving westward rather than marking time in a motel room sounded like a good strategy so I took my food vouchers, (that were now only redeemable at Starbucks and the snack food shop) my almost 15 pounds of fresh picked blueberries, (an idea that seemed good when I was in the berry patch on Wednesday but now became questionable as their weight appeared to increase as I lugged them through multiple airports) and trekked to concourse B to for my next airport adventure.
There was quite a crowd waiting for the 10:30 PM cross country flight along with a number of grumblers as we waited more than three hours with nothing but the flight monitor indicating that the plane we were waiting for had not yet arrived in Chicago. Finally we were told the plane was delayed due to the weather in Pensacola and the aircraft would arrive soon and as quickly as possible we would be loaded up and on our way.
The four and a half hour flight to the west coast was quiet and uneventful. I was thankful for a window and an open seat next to me that allowed me to rearrange and find comfortable napping positions. Local time when we arrived in California was somewhere around 3:30 AM.
Food vendors were now beginning to open shop and I used the last of my food vouchers to purchase an orange smoothie and chocolate croissant while I waited for the 6 AM departure time. I found it a bit disappointing that I was in San Francisco (a city I had enjoyed exploring when Mom, Dad and I visited in 1988 for Aunt Merla's graduation) but would only see it through sea-salted windows. 
I thought of my dad again as I lugged my bags and blue-berries through yet another maze of hallways and discovered a sign that referred to the building of a sandwich, a expression that he used regularly.
At 6 AM we took off (as scheduled) for the last portion of this 5 legged adventure home.
After a nap, some headache medicine and several loads of laundry; we headed out for a movie and Mexican dinner to celebrate the completion of our fourth year of a very blessed and happy marriage.
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