The date was July 11, 2019 and I anxiously drove myself to the airport with a couple of hours to spare, as one does when traveling via the Atlanta airport. With my cute polka-dot overnight bag thumping along behind me, I quickly went through the check in process and headed off to security. My mind began to wander as I stood in line, impatiently tapping my finger on the handle of my bag and adjusting my backpack for the millionth time. Was this really happening? I’m pretty sure everyone in sight believed I was insane as a broad smile kept finding its way to my face at the thought of the upcoming adventure and all I had planned for it. The best part…Garrett had no idea what was in store for him!
This was the day I was flying to meet up with him, be introduced to his family, and then help him move down to Atlanta with me. Prior to this day, we had thoroughly discussed the process and came to the conclusion that I would fly up to Pittsburgh Thursday where he would pick me up and together we’d drive to Erie, Pennsylvania where his family lived. Little did I know at the time that the people I would be meeting would be my future in-laws! We would stay Thursday and Friday night before embarking on a two day road trip back down to Atlanta, which I already had completely planned out of course! However, Garrett did not know any details regarding the road trip back other than his few requests: The trip would be split into two days with stops every 2-ish hours for breaks and the first day would knock out 8 of the 12 hours. What the stops along the way were though, now that was a surprise. Challenge accepted.
My thoughts quickly snapped back to the present as I stepped up to the security guard, handed her my ID, and scanned my ticket before proceeding to the baggage check/body scanner area. Shoes off, bags in bins, checked pockets, step through scanner, wait for luggage. One step closer! I hurried off to the Plane Train and managed to squeeze on, gripping the pole as instructed; “Please hold on, this train is departing.” Fellow Atlanta travelers, answer honestly…Did you read that quote in her voice? Admit it, you did! Thankfully my heading was the B terminal, so it was just a couple of stops before I was able to go with the flow and disembark the train. With an hour or so left I grabbed a coffee and breakfast and found a seat to curl up in. Just one less than 2 hour plane ride stood between me and my soon to be future husband! Finally the time came for passengers to board and before I knew it I was all settled in my seat. I briefly noted that messaging via Wi-Fi was available during the flight, which would be most useful in the near future, much to my dismay…And off we went, up into the sky, surrounded by beautiful fluffy clouds.
The flight was smooth sailing and uneventful enough. Or, so I thought. As we began to approach the Pittsburgh airport I felt the plane bank right, circling back around and getting the correct positioning to land. But then a sense of confusion overwhelmed me as we banked right for a bit longer than I expected before straightening out for a short period of time and then proceeded to bank left. The world shifted with the plane and began to spiral. I tightly gripped the arm rest and closed my eyes, trying to stop everything from spinning as we leveled out and banked right again. Oh no no no, this would not do. As we were leveling out and banking left once more the pilot came over the intercom and my heart sunk. He proceeded to inform us that there was currently a bad storm happening directly below us and was preventing our landing. We were directed to continue our figure eights in the sky for the next 15-20 minutes.
My eyes shot open at this update, sending the world into another spiral and I replaced my grip on the arm rest with my bag, desperately searching for my bottle of Dramamine. I usually only have to take it during super turbulent rides or, in this new scenario, multiple figure eights back to back. Pulling out both a bottle of the medication and water, I swallowed the pills, downed the remaining bit of water, and hoped for the best. With the bottles safely stored back in my bag, I texted Garrett to inform him of the situation, to which he confirmed that it was raining so hard he had to pull off to the side of the road on the way to the airport and was still there. Forty-five (15-20 minutes, pft…) minutes later we were finally cleared for landing and Garrett informed me that he was safely at the airport, now on a mission to find me a bottle of Sprite to help calm my stomach per my plea.
With my feet finally firmly on the ground I followed the crowd, anxious to be wrapped in Garrett’s arms and longing for stability to return to me. My biggest hope at that moment was that I wasn’t walking as wobbly as I felt like I was! Soon enough, he was in my sights and I desperately tried to maintain composure as I approached him, but that only lasted so long before I finally just threw my arms around his neck and basked in his embrace. He gave me the bottle of Sprite and asked if I needed to sit down for a moment to gather my bearings, but I assured him I could make it to the car and just needed fresh air. He grabbed my bag in and held my hand the whole way to the car and remained attentive to me to ensure I was still okay and wasn’t in danger of falling over. We reached the parking lot in little time, located his car, and hopped in before we embarked on our 3-ish hour trip to Erie, PA and his family. This, my dearest readers, was only the beginning of an amazing adventure.
We swung by Garrett’s mom’s work to pick her up and then headed to his sister’s house where I had the pleasure of meeting her, her soon-to-be husband, her sweet children, and their adorable dog. Garrett took me across the street to show me a beautiful creek, knowing full well my fondness of creeks, oceans, and well…any body of water really! After a nice walk we headed back to the house for a relaxing evening of fetch with the pupper, who legitimately never tired…I wish I had her energy!
With a restful night behind us, Garrett and I awoke the next morning and headed out to tour the nearby lighthouse on Lake Erie. Much to my dismay, the only way to the top was by elevator. I took a deep breath, stepped on, and Garrett held me the whole way up, keeping me calm and safe. The view was breathtaking! Pushing through my fear of elevators was definitely worth it. We rode back down and treated ourselves to some delicious hot dogs before heading down the road for a game of putt putt.
This course had its own spin to it, literally. Each hole had a wheel you’d spin in order to get a handicap (or bonus), which definitely made the game more challenging and fun! Some of the handicaps included only being able to putt with one hand, putt from behind your back, have your competitor stand on the course somewhere as an obstacle (my favorite one), putt with your eyes closed, or subtract one point from your total. It was a blast competing and getting to mess with each other through these wheels. I kept telling him I was going to kick his butt, and I certainly did! Okay…I only beat him by 4 and we both did pretty bad, but that’s besides the point!
Once we finished the game we headed out to pick up his mom from work before returning to the house for another relaxing evening. I thoroughly enjoyed this chance to meet and spend time with his family, and my only regret is that I didn’t get to spend more with them. Before we knew it, it was the morning of the first of our two day road trip back to Atlanta. And did Garrett have a surprise in store for him!
