The traveling swim wife... minus the travel

Why, you ask, am I sitting at home in Auburn, Alabama today while Mark is on his way to Boston when both of us should have been arriving in Paris right about now. Well, in order to keep the tears and curse words from flowing (again), here are the cliffs notes...

• Late for flight
• "see agent"
• no seat available in the next three days
• crying
• cursing
• crying
• midnight pick up from the airport by my mother (the babysitter)
• analyzing how, why, and how, again
• searching flights on my blackberry from the car for Mark
• doing "the math" about prize money, appearance fees and whether or not it was "worth it" to "make it happen"
• at 1 am booking a new flight for Mark for which we would have to leave from the airport in five hours
• trying to read French in order to book new train tickets
• Getting up at 5:00 to take Mark back to the airport

So, at this point, Mark is at the airport waiting at the gate (today he will fly from Atlanta to Boston to Paris. He will then take the train straight to Carcassonne and meet our friends, Fred and Laure, in Carcassonne). I have now driven back and forth to the Atlanta airport twice in the last fourteen hours and am now sitting on the sofa (at home) watching the World Cup.

Am I upset? Absolutely. This traveling swim wife is now just a swim wife.

Here is the funny part (you knew there would be one)... I took Daisy (the dog) with me in the car to take Mark back to the airport. Why? Because I needed a friend. So, on the way to the airport, Mark and I ran into Dunkin' Donuts for a coffee and when we got back to the car Daisy had left Mark a little "gift" right on top of his suitcase. Why? Because she is my friend. Mark laughed. I laughed. It certainly lightened the mood.

The show must go on...
Don't worry all of you Travel Tip providers-we will still award a winner when Mark returns!