I jsut flew in from Houston and boy, are my arms tired! I know, it's a lame joke and was probably considered lame when it was first uttered by a comedian years and years ago.
I had my quarterly appointment at M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston at the beginning of the week and we've been fortunate to connect with the Houston Ground and Air Angels to get us there and back home at no cost to us. But with private planes, the pilots are reluctant to fly in inclimate weather. The weather in Dallas wasn't looking promising and Houston was forecast to expect rain. So we had to quickly change plans and fly commerical. Good thing -- when we took off it was snowing in Amarillo.
Let me tell you: Even though it was 50 degrees in Houston, it poured and poured, and the 6 mph wind felt like 30 up here. It just cut through us like a knife. It was miserable and the forecast was for more of the same on the day we were scheduled to fly back. We didn't have a plan B. No money will do that to you. Stress will also keep you up at night. After 10 hours of waiting for testing at Anderson, always a thrill and a half, I laid awake for 4 hours before dozing for an hour and a half. Then I was awake until 4:30 before dozing off again. The wake-up call at 7:30 a.m. ended the nighttime misery but then I had to go through the day dragging my tail.
On Tuesday night, my wife Tanya was worried we'd be stranded in Houston when the leader of the Houston Air Angels called and said, "everything's a go" for the next day. It was still pouring and I thought the hotel swimming pool was going to overflow.
We awoke Wednesday to sunny skies but the forecast for Amarillo was snow or at least sleet. But the sky was beautifully clear when we landed.
We worried for nothing, but it sure did take a lot out of us. I don't recommend it. But thank God for the Houston Ground and Air Angels. I think they worry more about us than we do.