Sleeping in Bed with a 50 year old woman...

So I flew to South Carolina this past week to visit my brother, sis-in-law, and nephy Judah and it was a trip of a lifetime! It was so relaxing to get away for the stresses of life, be able to walk on the beach every morning, go paddle boarding, go on bike rides, hang out with the family, and not worry about one single thing! It was a long needed vacation!
Craig and Em live on Hilton Head Island and it is gorgeous! It reminded me so much of being in Hawaii, but then you would see deer and pine trees (right next to the palm trees and alligators!) What a great great place!
I will post more about it later when I get pictures to put up, but let's just say that the trip was a total success!

Throughout my travels to and from Hilton Head, we had to stop in the Atlanta airport.  Normally, I get off the plane, sit at the next terminal and wait for the next plane to leave, thinking only about my bed at the end of all the traveling.  But at the Atlanta airport, my mind is flooded with memories of one crazy night! I promised myself I needed to come home and blog about this because I feel as though the world needs to know this story!

Two years ago, my mom and I flew out to Washington D.C. to visit Craig and Emily (who lived there for work) during her UEA and my Fall Break.  My mom bought a ticket and I decided to borrow one of my Aunt's buddy passes (who doesn't like to fly for cheap?!)  We got there on Wednesday of my Fall Break and had a blast exploring the city! That is one of my favorite places to visit! There is so much to do and it is all free! So we spent about 3 1/2 busy days exploring every nook and crany of the city before we had to leave on Sunday. 

Before I continue on, it needs to be said that my mom and aunt were watching the flights for me all day Saturday, and Saturday night looked very very grim for me.  It didn't look like I would be able to make the flight with my mom, but I packed up my stuff anyway and hoped for the best!

Sunday morning came along and my Aunt Mary called and said there was no possible way that I could make it on to that mornings flight with my mom.  So we ended up taking her to airport and then I came back and spent one more awesome day with Craig and Em! I wasn't complaining... (except for the fact that I had a test in my Gender Communications class early on Monday morning (side note: What professor schedules a test the day AFTER Fall Break? Lame-O!) So I emailed Jamie (my totally awesome prof who was from Canada!) and told him about my situation.  He said that I could come in early Tuesday morning and take it.)

So this would all be okay if I were to get on the plane Monday afternoon. So Emily comes, drops me off, and I have to sit and wait and stare at the screen that slowly lets you know if your name has been approved for boarding.  (Similar to this screen except names are on it...)

(So for all of those that don't know much about Buddy Passes, I need to let you know that I was at the bottom of the totem pole! Since I was a niece of my aunt, I didn't have ANY priority- so I could only get on if it was wide open!)  I spent about 1 1/2 hours just waiting.  I had the pleasure to see my bestie's mom, Jody, waiting for the same flight.  Unforunately, since she is the daughter of a pilot, she got right now! Bye Jody! I'll just sit here and wait my life away and stress about missing my test the next morning.  (I guess I should mention that I was starting my first day of work at Cowboy Grub on Tuesday Afternoon too.  Couldn't miss that! They would not be impressed!)


So I went and sat down and started working on my computer.  This kid came and sat next to me and since I had been home from my mission for about 2 months, my friendly missionary skills were still intact! (where did those go by the way... :) ). So I struck up a conversation and came to find out that he, Jordan, was traveling back from visiting his mission in Portugal and had been stuck in the airport without a shower for about 2 1/2 days.  Those darn buddy passes can really suck sometimes!

So I felt comfortable enough to trust him- two return missionaries just trying to get home! So we went and spoke with some travel agent peeps and finally they told us they could get us onto a flight from D.C. to Atlanta and then we could go from Atlanta to Utah.  It looked promising, so we jumped on it!

Fast Forward a couple hours: We land in Atlanta, unboard, and then go look at the numbers for the flight from Atlanta to Utah.  The numbers looked very bleak! There were about 91 people that were waiting to do stand-by from Atlanta to Utah.  NINETY-ONE!! Are you serious?! So we hear this and our hearts sink about 2.4 inches.  Now what?!

So we sat in the chairs and just contemplated.  We started talking to this woman named Glady's, who is originally from Honduras, and her son Jimmy.  Apparently they were trying to get back to Alaska, but were seasoned veterans in the Buddy Pass Department.  They had been stuck in Atlanta so many times that they knew their favorite cheap hotel and they were on their way to go there for the night! (At this point there was no hope to get a flight out that night... we would wait until the morning!) 

As Glady's and Jimmy get up to go, I asked if I could follow them and get on the same shuttle to the same hotel.  They of course said yes, and Jordan said he would come along to keep me company.  (Remember people: I felt comfortable in this situation.  I, the queen of paranoia, or Paranoid Polly as Andy calls me, felt comfortable to go with these people. So I went.)

On the shuttle over there, we got to know Glady's and Jimmy and they were such sweet people! The Shuttle driver was a fantastic man who was trying to flirt with me and was convinced that I would be the President of the United States.  Apparently he didn't know that I know little to nothing about Politics... too bad! So as we were driving over, Glady's asked Jordan and I if we just wanted to share a room with her and her son.  It would save us some money and... yup.  That was the only perk in this situation!

I jumped on that again! (I don't know what had gotten into me... maybe it was still my friendly missionary skills).  I'm assuming that there are some of you that would read this part and just think that I was crazy.  I'm sure there are some of you that would rather sleep in the corner of the Atlanta Airport then share a room with 3 complete strangers.  I think in any other situation, I would have one of those attitudes.  But for some reason, this was not one of those times!

We check in to this beauty:


 Make our way up to our room, and then we start to work on getting flights worked out for the morning.  I emailed Jamie one more time and asked him if I could come in later to take the test.  He responded and said that was fine but then pretty much called me stupid to use a buddy pass over Fall Break and he thought that was irresponsible. Sorry Jamie.  It is the way it is!  My mom and I decided that in order to get back to take that test and get to work that we would end up paying for a ticket- $600 later, I had a flight booked for Tuesday morning.  (We should've just bought a roundtrip ticket in the first place! Oh well- if we did, then I wouldn't have experienced the greatest story of my life!)

Jordan showered, Jimmy and Glady's booked a flight for the next day as well and by that point it was about 1:30 in the AM.  We had to get up in about 4 1/2 hours- Tough.  Luckily, Glady's suggested I sleep in the same bed as her and that Jordan and Jimmy slept in the same bed. (I'm sure that was more uncomfortable for the two boys than it was for me!)

Everyone had climbed into bed and I spent a couple minutes on blessed Facebook to broadcast to everyone where I was, what I was doing, and who I was about to sleep with! I got some great comments back from friends and then I decided I should go to bed.  I turned off my computer and slowly slid between the cold sheets of the Atlanta EconoLodge.  I lay there in bed staring at the ceiling and laughing so hard inside about my situation! I would try to fall asleep but then I would envision my sleeping next to Glady's and then I would wake up.  I would look over and Glady's face was about 3 inches away from me.  "Perfect. Absolutely perfect! I'm in bed with a 50 year old woman from Honduras! Blessed Day! hahahahahaha.  I cannot believe this is happening to me!" All of this just kept running through my head.  So great!

4 1/2 hours flew by and before I knew it, it was time to get up to get us to the airport.  We were all getting ready together- talking very minimally, I'm sure!

 *Timeout*

 I truly do believe that I was placed in the paths of these people for my safety and well being.  I never once felt nervous and I actually felt quite peaceful.  The next morning as I was packing my stuff, I decided to read out of my "pass-a-long" Book of Mormon.  As I was reading, I got the strongest impression that I needed to give it to Gladys and Jimmy.  So I wrote my testimony in it, gave them some passages to read, and then I started to explain it to them, there in our joint room at the Econo Lodge.  Both of them said they have friends that are LDS, and that missionaries had actually come to Glady's door but they didn't speak Spanish so nothing came of it but that she was always interested in what they had to say! Anyways, we had a great discussion about the Book fo Mormon and Jimmy seemed really excited about it. 

Now if anything came of me giving them a Book of Mormon, I don't know.  I didn't know how to reach them.  But I believe that I went through this "Great" ordeal to be placed in the path of Jimmy and Gladys to give them a Book of Mormon.  I know that God works in very mysterious ways, and I guess that way was for me to end up stuck in airports and sharing an Econo Lodge Guest Room with 3 wonderful strangers!

I will never forget my Honduran "Mother" that helped me feel comfortable to sleep in the same bed as her when I was all alone in a scary town! :)

The End.



4 comments:

  1. HAHAHAHAHAH!! I totally remember you telling me about this!! Oh, the joys of Gender Communication. I'm still friends with Jamie on FB, the stud!

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