Getting Home

I had to get up at 7 to get out the door by 8 in order to make the 10:40 flight home with plenty of margin. Margin is good. I like margin now, after the eating of margin on the way out to Pleasanton. There are a lot worse things than having a leisurely meal and a good break at the airport.

And that's all I had when Carl dropped me of quite in time with all my worst case thoughts. I just had a leisurely breakfast of a Peet's espresso-based latte and a slice of cheese pizza. *grin* It was hot! And tasty!

I flew to DIA, no problem. I took a little time collecting my luggage as I *thought* the BA arrived on the hour and left on the hour, but when I finally found the RTD booth with the actual times, I had three minutes to catch the bus at the West Terminal. Luckily, that was just across a hallway and out the door. Unluckily, I didn't take a few minutes to pick up a lunch to go and I was starving. Still, I made it to the bus in plenty of time, and I had the ten dollar bill I'd saved from the whole Con for the cash-only, no change ride home.

When I called John, though, the half hour change in time had collided with the fact that John had to pick up the kids from the bus. Oops. He and some folks at the OUR center said that there was a bus that I could pick up from Table Mesa and take to Longmont. Right to my door. But I had to get a transfer, as I didn't have the cash to get the next bus, which was a whole $2.75. *grin*

So I got a transfer, and the driver gave me no guff about it at all.

When I got off at Table Mesa Park and Ride, I knew I had just five minutes before the J bus was coming. There were, however, three different pick up areas at the Park and Ride. One at the Park and Ride, and two at Table Mesa Drive. *sigh* So I dragged all my stuff with me to all three areas and didn't see ONE mention of a J line coming through. Hm. So I called the RTD info line and they informed me that the J didn't go here. They did go on Table Mesa, but only *at* Broadway, which was a few miles to the West of where I was standing.

Hm.

I called John and he said that he'd pick up the kids and come and pick me up, as originally planned. So I went back to the Park and Ride, propped my feet up on my suitcase and read The Hallowed Hunt by Bujold. I'd tried reading it immediately after Paladin of Souls, but I'd been so completely disappointed that there wasn't a single character from the previous two novels that I'd given up on it pretty quickly. Now, free of having read nearly anything Bujold for a year or so, I now enjoyed it immensely for itself. It *is* the same world, the same gods, and the same underlying basis of "keeping faith", so it was a very satisfying read.

John and the boys showed up with three cars on their tail, so I wrestled my suitcase in, stumbled in myself, as I am severely sleep deprived by this point and off we went. It wasn't until we got home and I was looking for something from my laptop bag that I realized that I'd just LEFT it on the bench I'd been sitting on.

John just whipped back out the door into the van and back to the Park and Ride, which was a good fifteen to twenty minute drive from home, especially in rush hour. He called me when he got there and found the bag, still half open from when I'd pulled the book out of it, on the bench next to a woman who was sitting on the same bench waiting for a bus.

I never thought it was possible, but no one even touched it the whole forty minutes we were driving back and forth.

Wow.

I am very glad when the world surprises me like that. I am grateful.

I spent most of the evening in a very tired daze. There was a pancake dinner for Maudy Tuesday at the church, combined with an Ash Wednesday marking with the Ashes, which I'll admit I wasn't ready for. The Ashes are for the *next* night, darn it. Mardi Gras should be *happy* all the way through. But so it was.

And Jet was quite content to sit in my lap for the dinner and the whole service afterward. When the games happened, I sat to watch and Jet told me, quite happily, "I'm going to just watch and see what's going on." So he did.

I put Jet to bed that night and it was good to be home again.

Getting Home

I had to get up at 7 to get out the door by 8 in order to make the 10:40 flight home with plenty of margin. Margin is good. I like margin now, after the eating of margin on the way out to Pleasanton. There are a lot worse things than having a leisurely meal and a good break at the airport.

And that's all I had when Carl dropped me of quite in time with all my worst case thoughts. I just had a leisurely breakfast of a Peet's espresso-based latte and a slice of cheese pizza. *grin* It was hot! And tasty!

I flew to DIA, no problem. I took a little time collecting my luggage as I *thought* the BA arrived on the hour and left on the hour, but when I finally found the RTD booth with the actual times, I had three minutes to catch the bus at the West Terminal. Luckily, that was just across a hallway and out the door. Unluckily, I didn't take a few minutes to pick up a lunch to go and I was starving. Still, I made it to the bus in plenty of time, and I had the ten dollar bill I'd saved from the whole Con for the cash-only, no change ride home.

When I called John, though, the half hour change in time had collided with the fact that John had to pick up the kids from the bus. Oops. He and some folks at the OUR center said that there was a bus that I could pick up from Table Mesa and take to Longmont. Right to my door. But I had to get a transfer, as I didn't have the cash to get the next bus, which was a whole $2.75. *grin*

So I got a transfer, and the driver gave me no guff about it at all.

When I got off at Table Mesa Park and Ride, I knew I had just five minutes before the J bus was coming. There were, however, three different pick up areas at the Park and Ride. One at the Park and Ride, and two at Table Mesa Drive. *sigh* So I dragged all my stuff with me to all three areas and didn't see ONE mention of a J line coming through. Hm. So I called the RTD info line and they informed me that the J didn't go here. They did go on Table Mesa, but only *at* Broadway, which was a few miles to the West of where I was standing.

Hm.

I called John and he said that he'd pick up the kids and come and pick me up, as originally planned. So I went back to the Park and Ride, propped my feet up on my suitcase and read The Hallowed Hunt by Bujold. I'd tried reading it immediately after Paladin of Souls, but I'd been so completely disappointed that there wasn't a single character from the previous two novels that I'd given up on it pretty quickly. Now, free of having read nearly anything Bujold for a year or so, I now enjoyed it immensely for itself. It *is* the same world, the same gods, and the same underlying basis of "keeping faith", so it was a very satisfying read.

John and the boys showed up with three cars on their tail, so I wrestled my suitcase in, stumbled in myself, as I am severely sleep deprived by this point and off we went. It wasn't until we got home and I was looking for something from my laptop bag that I realized that I'd just LEFT it on the bench I'd been sitting on.

John just whipped back out the door into the van and back to the Park and Ride, which was a good fifteen to twenty minute drive from home, especially in rush hour. He called me when he got there and found the bag, still half open from when I'd pulled the book out of it, on the bench next to a woman who was sitting on the same bench waiting for a bus.

I never thought it was possible, but no one even touched it the whole forty minutes we were driving back and forth.

Wow.

I am very glad when the world surprises me like that. I am grateful.

I spent most of the evening in a very tired daze. There was a pancake dinner for Maudy Tuesday at the church, combined with an Ash Wednesday marking with the Ashes, which I'll admit I wasn't ready for. The Ashes are for the *next* night, darn it. Mardi Gras should be *happy* all the way through. But so it was.

And Jet was quite content to sit in my lap for the dinner and the whole service afterward. When the games happened, I sat to watch and Jet told me, quite happily, "I'm going to just watch and see what's going on." So he did.

I put Jet to bed that night and it was good to be home again.