Unsure Exactly What I Was Thinking

 "I will get a less lame post up tomorrow" hahahahahaha no I will not, it's November, getting A POST up is the most I am going to commit to every day. Five paragraphs? Four lines? WHO CAN SAY.

Anyone wondering how many posts I can milk the whole 'Stranded in Edmonton" thing for? I know I am.

Throughout the whole experience I was very aware how things could have been very much worse for us. We were traveling business class, my husband is a super elite (obnoxious term) Air Canada million-miler, we didn't have kids or pets with us, and we were at the airport with Matt's aunt and her husband and his uncle and his wife, all of whom we adore and never get to see enough. We hung out at Boston Pizza for a bit, where the waitress kept apologizing for slow service while we were completely happy for things to drag out because there was almost nowhere left to sit in the airport as every damn flight was delayed but no damn flights were cancelled yet. Katherine and Kate and I wandered around and shopped a little and giggled at stupid things. Everyone would split off to their own gate for a bit and then come back together when it was obvious nothing was happening yet.

Our flights were all cancelled fairly close in time. We were prepared to take a shuttle to a Hilton, but then Air Canada texted Matt that they had booked us into a room at a hotel attached to the airport. We had not abandoned the others to hang out in the lounge all day, but we decided that our familial love did not extend to turning down this surprise benefit - everyone assured us they would do the same. My contacts were nearly welded to my eyeballs at this point, and my feet were tired and boiling. 

The hotel was sort of fancy, sort of funky, sort of weird. Matt went and had a martini and a snack at the bar while doing some work, but I just are a handful of peanuts, showered and went to bed with Dungeon Crawler Carl (that's a book). 

We just had to get up and walk out to check in to our flight the next day. As I said, I was so aware of our privileged situation, and tried really hard both days to be nice to both employees and fellow travelers. I didn't get mad when people stopped with their suitcases right in the middle of a thoroughfare and pulled out their phone. I waited patiently in long lines and thanked employees profusely. I walked slowly and was careful not to knock into luggage or children. 

We got into the Super Elite lineup at check-in, and we were the only ones in it. Beside us was the Priority Check-in line for those who are, you know, slightly less elite. As the agent beckoned us to come, the man at the head of the Priority line said "Excuse me!" loudly. He was in the wrong line and pissed about it. The agent said "who is super elite", which we were (royal we), but Matt beckoned for the man to go ahead because he didn't want to inflict him on the other people in his line or the check-in agent if he had to wait any longer. 

We were so close to the end of the whole ordeal. We were so much luckier than the people in the long lines. Be gracious, I told myself. Who knows what he's been dealing with? 

As he turned to go, he looked at Matt belligerently, and Matt said sarcastically "is it okay if I go now?" Instead of saying thank-you, the guy muttered "nice try dude". 

"Say 'have a nice day'" I thought. But somehow when I opened my mouth what came out was "You're FUCKING WELCOME."

Sorry, better angels. I tried. 

THE COOKIES

Okay okay, I knew it wasn't cool to leave the whole 'mystery of the cookie aroma' thing like that. Shortly after we texted, everyone else walked to our gate and declared that they absolutely could smell cookies baking. As I said, my allergies were terrible and Matt has a very dull sense of smell, but as soon as I stood up and walked two steps from my chair I could also smell the cookies. Was there an invisible border over which the cookie smell could not travel? Was it the power of suggestion? We will never know.

I didn't even end up eating the cookies on the way home. I had $40 of vouchers and I got two chai lattes, two tea biscuits and six cookies which added up to 39.01, which on the one hand is horrifying and on the other hand was quite satisfying. Then I carried the little box of cookies everywhere for the rest of the day. 

I just got the classic chocolate chunk rather than a variety, because there was a long line of people trying to use vouchers and I didn't want to take any longer than necessary (I was TRYING, you guys).

So... yeah. They're big-ass, soft, chocolate chunk cookies, of course they're fucking good, what big thing did I think I was going for here? No complaints, George.