Start of the journey home

By Wednesday morning we knew were in trouble.

"What do we have left to pack?" Bill asked me.

"Not much," I said.

After a 25-year absence, I would be boarding a flight bound for Costa Rica where I would see my entire extended family. But first Bill and I had to survive a nine- to 10-hour ordeal with an anxious 2-year-old and an even more anxious 72-year-old.

So here it is in a nutshell. We were packed and had all our bags ready Wednesday night. Even the 72-year-olds (my father). Bill and I were taking count. Making sure everything was the right weight and making sure that we did not miss taking we needed.

Bill's question was more of a request for reassurance. I had asked a few dozen times what we had left to pack. Enough clothes for a week and a few days for me, him and the boy. So that question was asked often.

We left our Inland Empire apartment late morning Wednesday for the last time for the week. Got a new pair of glasses. Indeed ladies and gents, I now have reading glasses. Bill got some pretty cool glasses ... FASHIONISTA!

Then we headed to my sister-in-laws where we slept on her floor.

"I have plenty of blankets," she told us. Minutes before, we found out that an air mattress we had invested in had a pump that would require a 12 hour charge. We had eight hours left before we were leaving.

Nice!

We set up a ton of blankets and the floor. At 9:30 p.m. turned out the lights. That's when the Lucky show began.

God bless him, the boy got up several times and turned the lights on for us. It was perhaps four times. He wandered and played. And the clock ticked. He jumped on me. Then he hopped on pop.

It was, exhausting. He finally fell asleep at 12:30 a.m. Four hours later I got him up. He was not a happy camper.

We arrived at my father's house soon after and to no one's surprise, all hell was breaking loose.

My sister texted me. COME AND TAKE HIM! GET HERE NOW! A superstitious man with a number of anxieties, he was was burning something that he was sure would bring him luck and ward off the bad mojo. We were almost to his house and he was stalling putting on his socks and shoes.

Bill walked in under the impression that he was completely ready to go. So, he went in and my sister said, OK, you're ready, right? And he looked at her like she was stupid and barked at her in Spanish no, he couldn't go yet because he didn't have his socks or shoes on. So, she got down and put his two layers of socks (one a support because of his diabetes) and shoes and got him up and going.

But no, not ready yet. Even though Bill made it out, my father didn't. He made one last trip to his room, and closed the door because he had to get his money ... and no one else can see where he hides it. Why? Because he´s convinced that the second his back is turned, we will steal it.

So, Bill's tapping his foot waiting, Steph (my sister) is fuming, and Lucky's whining because he's awake and trapped in his car seat. Steph and Bill used every ounce of their powers of persuasion to make him move faster. We had to stop and pick up some of his medicine (thank you 24-hour pharmacy with a drive-through). He wanted to get breakfast, and yet was dragging his feet because he needed to get some CD´s to bring with him.

Long story short (trust us, it's a lot), we finally get to the airport and checked in. It was hell carrying all the stuff through the airport, but we got on the plane on our way to Costa Rica (via Dallas).

As usual, my father's demands continued throughout the trip. But at this point, we're pretty used to them. The usual stuff, needing to go to the bathroom (with the fasten seatbelt sign on), needing food (and getting a burger he ate the toppings off of, then about half the burger) and then refusing the in-flight food (then complaining that they didn't feed him on the plane to the family).

But, we made it alive and well, and have survived the first few days of family. We'd post pictures, but we don't have the proper cords and plugs, so you'll see them as soon as we can figure that part out.