Even the best laid plans...

Saturday, November 10
I will not dwell on the craziness of my last full day in Pleasanton. Instead, I will briefly tell you of the highlights of this roller coaster day: I got to see and photograph Mark’s last football game as a 49er. I got to have a private lunch with my husband. And I got to experience the magnificence of the Amador Fall Production Metamorphoses once again. Also, I was amazed by the kind and generous heart of my oldest son, Hans, who so selflessly offered to pass up a chance to celebrate a party with his cast members and instead was willing to go home to help me pack for my trip… and my whole family rallied around me when I had a small emergency half-way through the day. I am a blessed human being indeed!

So, the trip nuttiness… it started with me calling my mother before the game and being told that the airport in Quito was closed due to an accident the evening before. Apparently an Iberia Airbus came down a bit too fast and skidded off the runway, where it still laid. I immediately called AA and was told not to worry - they had information that the airport was scheduled to reopen that evening at 6pm Eastern Time. Relaxing, I went on with my day.

That evening, right before I was to get ready to go to Metamorphoses, I called Quito again and was told the airport remained closed. My brother Klaus had solid information that my flight tomorrow was canceled! Unbelieving, I called AA back and they confirmed the flight cancellation. At the point, the best the agent could do was to place me in Quito late on the 14th. I started crying in frustration, telling her about Vati’s operation the morning of the 13th and how hard I had worked to make sure I would be able to see him off to the OR. While I was on hold with AA, I asked Rick to call my brother Hans, pilot for AA, and ask his help in finding a way to get me to Quito prior to the morning of the 13th. The agent came back with her next best choice - that one still put me in Quito after the operation. I told her to hold my place on the flight for the 14th while I researched other options. I would call her back.

At that point I talked to Hans asking him of the option to fly to our largest port city on the coast, Guayaquil, and continuing to Quito - perhaps via mule? I was desperate. Hans calmed me down and made me see the folly of trying to make it to Quito at all costs. He reminded me I was going there to help ease the burden and worries of my parents, not to add to them. Seeing the sense in what he said, I resigned myself to this change of events and called AA back to confirm the flight on the 14th. At that point I talked with another agent manning their international desk and I went through my sad story once again. She checked into a flight to Guayaquil to see if she could book me onto a continuing flight, and came back empty. With a heavy heart, I agreed to the 14th and, still in tears, rushed to enjoy my last chance to see Metamorphoses. My good friend Deb consoled me, as did Colleen and Kelsey, and soon I was more and more accepting the annoyance of having my plans so rudely changed, all due to something so totally out of my control.

Hans and Stina went to a cast party and Mark, Rick and I headed home. Rick coaxed me to relax on the couch, and put aside the packing I had begun earlier. As I was dozing off, my cellular rang - an 800 number. I had not answered an 800 call earlier, thinking it to be some sort of marketing annoyance. I had a feeling though… so I answered. It was AA. One of the two lady agents told me how she and her colleague had been moved by my plight to be at my father’s side prior to his operation and they had been going round and round, trying to find a way to put me in Quito in time. They thought they had one - would I be willing to leave the next day, travel to Miami, then to Lima, Peru with AA and in Lima continue to Quito with a local airline? I was jumping up and down telling her to go ahead and book the flight, hardly daring to believe my good fortune and unbelieving of how caring these two American Airlines agents had proven to be!

And so it was that instead of sleeping that night, I stayed up packing and doing laundry and other sundry things, grateful as can be for the second chance to make it to Quito in time to see for myself in what condition Vati was prior to his surgery. Of course, it was way too late to call Quito, call my friend Linda and cancel my attendance to Ryan’s play the next day and call my brother Hans and tell him I was heading to Quito on Sunday after all… my email got a lot of work that night…