2/22/25

 I must have been tired. I woke up at 5:00 but didn’t want to stay awake. I ended up closing my eyes “just for a minute” and woke up at 7:30.  I needed that!

I did some work and got myself ready for the last day of the conference. My coworker called in a panic. Her mom went into the hospital and she felt torn. She wanted to be with her mom, but felt horrible for leaving me alone.

I am very capable of handling things by myself and strongly urged her to leave. She felt so guilty. It really was not a big deal. 

I ran into a girl that works at a clinic my friend, Patti, works at. (I told her to say “hi” to you Patti). Such a small world.

I met some veterinary technician teachers that were interested in me presenting to their class about how to build their resume. I enjoy doing that presentation to students specifically. I like to show them terrible résumé’s. The worst of the worst. I try and make it funny, but informational.

I packed up our booth and headed to the airport. My Uber driver was talking about how unsafe flying was these days. Not quite the topic to share when you are TAKING SOMEONE TO THE AIRPORT! Her farewell to me was “I hope you have a safe flight”.  I felt like it was more of a “Hope you don’t die…toodles!”

I went through security. My bag had to be taken off to the side to be searched.  “Do you have any weapons?” They asked me.

“Not this time.” I said.

The item causing the issue was a rubber ball I use to help stretch my back. I am glad people are keeping us safe.

Avery sent a picture of her and a couple friends at the house. She shared a picture of Moe lying on his back letting them pet his belly. She said he didn’t even growl when they walked in the house. That is progress. I was proud of him.

My first flight was to JFK. It went pretty smooth. I had a bit of a layover, so I had a snack and did some work to prepare for my meetings on Monday.

I was the last person on the flight, just the way I planned. They were checking bags at the gate. I wanted my bag to be the last one on and first one off so I didn’t have to wait as long when we landed. Also, when you are the last person on, you just sit in an empty row. This has been a fool proof method for me many times.

I got a row all to myself and didn’t have to sit next to people! Yay!

The flight was the same temperature as it is in Antarctica. I was freezing!🥶 

When we arrived, they made an announcement that any bags checked at the gate would be in baggage claim. Ugh!

I really don’t like baggage claim. It is loud. It is chaotic and VERY people-y. It also doesn’t seem efficient. There is no rhyme or reason to organization surrounding baggage claim. I purposefully avoid it to avoid the stress of it. I was annoyed.

I was really annoyed when 40 minutes later, I still had no idea where my bag was. I finally meandered into the delta office 10 minutes after midnight. 

I am so out of touch with baggage claim that I knew it felt like a long wait. Turns out, my fool proof plan made me the fool! My bag was still in NYC.  I tried to beat the system and it ended up beating me. Dang it!

My bag will be delivered to our house tomorrow afternoon. I am so thankful this happened at the end of my trip and not the beginning. It was a good reminder for our St. Lucia trip to mix the important items like bathing suits into our back packs.

I finally made it game at 12:45 am. The dogs went nuts. They were so excited. Penny was spinning and twirling wagging her tail. Paul was not doing that, however, I am pretty sure he felt like that on the inside. He just was holding back his visible excitement.

I went to walk upstairs and both Penny and Moe blasted through the gate to sleep in our bed. Normally I don’t allow this because they are a pain in the ass. When I forget how obnoxious they are, they con me into saying yes. My guess is that I will regret that decision in the morning.