of course, the two asterisks in the last word of the title of today's blog are beach! the comma is just a type-o!
alright, so if you've been paying close attention, cyberspace (crickets), you'd know that the titles of my blogs are all quotes from songs. so there. cheesy, but fun and interesting nonetheless. much like my fragments and run-on statements. *disclaimer, i was no English major, but grammar is a thing for me. except for when it's not.
and technically, i'm no longer in miami. i actually got home just a couple hours ago. and not a moment too soon. my child was about to explode into a ball of fiery tantrums. seriously. to her credit, she was a trooper the entire trip including but not limited to the 2.5 hour flight that we flew standby without my baby daddy (there was only one seat available since we missed our first flight) and mom subsequently rolled a stroller with my sweet angel, a suitcase with a carseat held on top, & holding a baby-tantrum-preparation carry-on (i.e. HUGE & HEAVY) to the rental car place at the miami airport where i was refused my reservation because my hubby needed to be present since it was under his name.
i know what you must be thinking. no biggie, right? cancel the other reservation and rent whatever is available. except nothing was. so i tried to call the online "price negotiatiors" with whom my husband booked the rental car. i explained how we'd missed our flights and had to catch a later flight to miami except we had to split up since we were only able to fly standby. oh! and how my husband wouldn't be in florida until a few hours later, but that the only flight he was able to catch as standby (with 32 people waiting in line behind him) was to fort lauderdale nearly a 45 minute drive away. so, i was basically stranded with all the luggage and carseat and baby in tow unless they could find it in their hearts to cut me some slack and cancel the reservation to make the car "available" so i could just rent it directly from the car company. "i'm sorry ma'am. but that car would have to sit in the lot and not be picked up so that we could refund you your money." at that point, in all my frustration and doing my best to fight back tears, i hung up the phone. and will not be booking a hotel, car rental, or flight through that horrible website EVER AGAIN....they did nothing to help the "common people" that their spokesman sang about as he did a cover of the pulp song however long ago that was. ug.
at my wit's end, the lady at the counter saw me nearly break down and suggested maybe i take the tri rail to fort lauderdale. and with those darned tears in my eyes and a huge ANGRY lump in my throat, i said i would rather not with a toddler and all my gear, but thanks for the compassion. and she said to me that she would try to call her boss since i had a baby and luggage....that she hadn't seen me struggle up to the counter now nearly an hour ago. i'm telling you, my baby girl sat quietly in her stroller like a champ. she giggled and made herself be known to the lady behind the desk who called her boss and magically made a car appear, not without making $60 disappear from my account. just to get to fort lauderdale. if you do the math, that's more than $1/minute and the most expensive honda civic ever. i guess it belonged to jennifer lopez or one of her entourage drove to get her dry cleaning in it or something.
regardless, at that point, i didn't care. i just wanted to get all my stuff in a car. put my baby in her carseat and drive. without struggling to take a few steps and not drop anything. or adjust my stuff so i could steer my daughter clear of walls or columns.
i pulled into fort lauderdale airport as my husband landed. i was so relieved when i saw him. it was as if we had spent months apart. the silver lining: i am proud that i could handle it all and figured it all out by myself. but mostly, that i didn't cry when the going got tough. and i'm not even a crier. but this would've done it to anyone. not me though! or my baby girl! the rest of the trip was a breeze and so fun and relaxing and wonderful. time well spent with my family and my brothers-in-law and their families.
i'm just glad to be home again.
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