I'm hoping to stay in this chair for a few days solid

I'm in Billings. The tale of my journey was really stupid and long and sad, starting with how the NWA people "forgot" to tell the flight crew when they were supposed to be at the airport, so they were all still asleep in their hotel rooms when we were supposed to be boarding the plane. So, that flight was 3 hours late, and before we had even left DC I had missed my connection to Minneapolis. I kept trying to get someone to just put me on a different flight to Minneapolis (there was one RIGHT NEXT DOOR, as well as many others) but they were too stressed out and just made everyone go to Detroit on the premise that "they will rebook you there, we promise".

But, then, Detroit was full of all these people who needed to be rebooked. (NWA had also just cancelled some huge flight to Hawaii, plus many others were late. I was in line next to a kid who had been in Detroit since Saturday morning). So it took 2 hours to get to the front of the line, and then there were no seats available to Minneapolis until 7 pm.

I kind of wanted to go to Missoula anyway (and was planning to drive over there today to hang out with my other brother and with Heebie Geebie) so I kept suggesting that I be sent to any place! Any place in Montana! Bozeman! Butte! Kalispell! I don't care! What about Spokane!

But all the flights were full.

So I sat around in Detroit for a lot of hours, feeling sorry for myself and reading stupid books about vampires.

Then I went to board the flight. Except it wasn't there. The gate agent told me to go to a different gate, where my flight was on the marquee, with an estimated departure of 8:30.

I was supposed to be arriving in Minneapolis at 8:30 to get on the VERY LAST PLANE EVER to Billings, which was supposed to board at 9.

So I was going to miss that flight. And I had been awake for a really long time, and if I was going to miss it anyway I wanted to go to bed RIGHT NOW.

So I went up to some random other gate agent and was all pathetic and "please can you please help me? I am really, really tired, if I'm going to miss the flight anyway can you put me in a hotel here please". And he started looking at flights and told me that (a) if I didn't get on the flight to Billings that night, I was not going to be able to fly to anywhere in Montana until Friday, and (b) I was going to miss the connection and all the other flights to Minneapolis were full.

I might have started crying a little bit at this point. Just a little! I said, whatever, okay, I'll go to Minneapolis and figure this all out tomorrow when I am more coherent, sorry I'm crying! I'm just really tired.

Then he looked at all the "mechanical problems" and "crew problems" and how I had been so sorely mistreated by fate all day, and also how I was kind of crying (JUST A LITTLE) and magically decided to put me on his plane anyway. Which was leaving for Minneapolis in 30 minutes and which 10 minutes previously he had said was "completely full"

Whatever.

He put me in an exit row, which I am not allowed to sit in because I am deaf, but I didn't say anything to anyone because I am so selfish and irresponsible.

Then I got to Minneapolis, and my plane to Billings was also late (they had to replace a wheel. Or something.)

So, I got here last night, at midnight. Which is 2:00 AM in DC. And I woke up at 4:00 AM in DC yesterday morning. So I had been awake for 22 hours. That is too many hours for me. I like to only be awake, like, 12 or 14, at most. Also I don't get to go to Missoula any more; time and weather were not on my side.

But, I had gigantic brothers to meet me at the airport and carry my bags and fawn over me, and put me to bed. I slept for 13 hours and now I'm drinking coffee. It is snowing. Everyone is off doing things at the mall and the gym and the grocery store and the pottery shop except one brother who is reading a magazine at the table with me. All is relatively right with the world.