The Long Walk

Salt Lake City - July 25th, 2014

Trying to catch up with Chris in Denver. In order to catch up with my love (after the Great Disappointment the day before) I had to leave our apartment at 5:30am. No big deal, right? Right.

But...there were a few exceptions. I spent the night alone in our apartment. It went a lot better then the first time around. I actually slept well but really missed Chris.

My alarm went off at 4:30am. It was quiet out- not a sound...wait...what? There was someone digging around in the dumpster with a flash light! I have to walk right by that dumpster, up a drive/ally way, up (and I mean UP) a hill, and up again where our parking spot is. Great. It's dark, I am alone, and I will have two small carry on bags with me. I prayed that someone from our building would be going to work and walk out at the same time so I would not have to walk totally alone. (Before I go on...I grew up in the country and cities always gave me the creeps. I have been slowly getting use to the idea of living downtown in the middle of everything!)

I locked up our apartment, put one ear bud in with Chris on the line so he could at least know what happened to me if something actually happens. I started my long walk. Down the hall, in the elevator, down another hall, pause... I hear a door and keys...someone is coming! I open the door that leads to my outdoor portion of the long walk...there is someone coming from down the hall. My friend the dumpster diver is gone (thank goodness). I have a new friend now. A nicely dressed man going to work. I still walk quickly with my full glass water bottle in hand, just in case I need to wallop anyone.

Click. Car unlocked, bags tossed in, I jump in and lock the door. Safe. Now, off to the airport!

5:40am – Salt Lake City and the surrounding mountains are beautiful early in the morning. I should do this more often!

I have gotten very familiar with the drive to the airport – so no problems there. Just had to navigate the employee parking lot and shuttle. Thank goodness for our practice run the morning before! All went well, found a space and the shuttle graciously waiting for me as I dashed to catch it. Rode in, made it through security, and got to my gate in great time.

The standby list made my heart sink. My name, "Coo. E." (not listed as Lyons yet), went from number 4 to number 6 and then to 8. Not good. I really did not want to wait for the later flight. They started boarding – everyone was on. They called for one of the standby passengers several times… I thought I was doomed and all was lost. My name was then called and I got on! YAY! The flight to Denver was super smooth. The only troubling thing was there were about four passengers around me reading newspapers with headlines about the three planes found (crashed and shot down)  in one week...not very reassuring.

We made it just fine and it's a wonderful thing to have my husband (all handsome in his uniform) waiting for me at the gate. Totally love it!

After that we had about four hours to spend time with each other and explore the airport. Fun times!