TheMommyBlog

Monday, January 01, 2007 Me, Me, Me, Our Holiday Curse, Family

Last night, Phil and I rang in the new year with hundreds of people who had traveled thousands of miles to gather together for a single purpose. Emotions ran high, tears were shed, announcements were made, and at the end, there were joyous shouts and group hugs.

Well, maybe not hugs in the very strictest sense of the word, but we were all jammed together, arms a-flailing. Reaching for… our suitcases at the baggage carousel at San Jose International Airport. Where we waited AN HOUR AND A HALF for our bags to show up after the plane landed.

Yes, thank you. My folks circled the terminal while we waited at baggage claim from 10:20 until well after midnight. Some time after a feeble five-second countdown and some half-hearted whoops, a man moved to the edge of the carousel and made the following announcement:

“I have just spent some time at the counter over there, and since they refuse to make an announcement, I will make one. I hope you don’t think this is too forward. The truth is that they have absolutely no idea when our luggage will show up. Downstairs, there are exactly TWO men unloading THREE planes. So it might be wise to just sit down and make yourselves comfortable, because there’s no telling when they’ll get to us.”

Bloody smoked herring on a toasted cracker.

So, thank you, American Airlines, for such a wonderfully warm and memorable New Year’s Eve. Where the fuck were your baggage guys? Did they leave to celebrate elsewhere? Did you not think there would be about twenty children, some dressed in their sparkly best, eagerly waiting for the big moment, having stayed awake all that time, only to hear people grumbling and upset and making apologetic phone calls to the scores of people circling the terminal and ringing in the new year from behind the wheel?

As Mom and my step dad let us out at the curb, Phil and I ascended the one step to my front door, just like his grandparents always did at midnight, to start the year on an up note.