The Long Way Home

I think we were coming home from Disneyland.

Emma was a baby, so it must have been about 10 years ago.  We arrived to a stifling John Wayne Airport: the air conditioning was not working and the entire west side of the airport was floor to ceiling windows, the heat beating in.  That should've been the first indication that it would be a rough return.  :)

The whole gang arrived, car seats, strollers, suitcases, and souvenirs in tow: everyone except for Jeffrey, who must have returned early.  I remember that once we all realized how hot it was, we were very accepting of Matt's offers to treat everyone to McDonald's ice cream cones.  It was the first time we'd ever been early for a flight - in the history of all Milar travel - so we counted down until takeoff and licked away.

And then, the tragedy: there was a problem with the airplane and it would be several hours before it would be fixed.  We waited some more until we received word that the plane wouldn't be fixed in time and we'd be put up at the local hotel.

I remember that two people were particularly upset by this event: Mary wanted very much to be home with Jeffrey and Danny was love struck with Mindy-Anne Davis and couldn't wait to get back.  While everyone else left the airport to go to the hotel, Danny stayed at the airport, determined to get home.

We rode the shuttle about a mile to the hotel and were put into various rooms.  Because of the size of our party, our rooms were nowhere near each other.  Everyone was tired, probably dehydrated, and grumpy.  We went to our rooms and there was no air conditioning!  Ha.  I am laughing remembering but it wasn't funny at the time, least of all to Dad.  He called a few of us to see if it was just his room and, finding out that it was across the board, went to make it known (to the hotel?  the airline?  I'm not sure) that this simply wasn't going to work.

At some point  Danny called Papa and told him that he'd found a way to get us home but that we had to get to the airport immediately.  I don't remember if there wasn't a shuttle or if it just couldn't come fast enough, but we left the hotel in a rush, walk/jogging back to the airport. Ben was balancing things on his head and carrying a child.  Others were pulling suitcases while holding hands with the younger ones.  I can only imagine the scene we provided: 14 people walking down the street with luggage, babies, strollers, and the like.  We rushed back as quickly as possible.

Danny, through some sleuth/stalker work, had found a flight leaving.  He knew which specific agent would help us and he got us approval to get on the flight.  There was a very big catch: the airport had a curfew and the flight had to leave within the next half hour or so.  We rushed in and found that the security we had been through earlier was closed, as the airport was shutting down, so we hurried back to the other end of the airport to use the Southwest security.  We threw our tickets at the agents (having been trying to get home now for probably 5-6 hours) and they let most of us through.  They would not let Mary through with Emma because Emma didn't have a ticket and Southwest required one for infants (Delta didn't).  Eventually I think the agents got so frazzled Mary just walked through.  :)

We ran back to the other end of the airport to our airplane.  This is my favorite memory of the story but also demonstrates an epic sibling failure!  Holly had asked Mom if she could throw away her boarding pass when we left the airport originally.  Because the flight was cancelled, Mom said yes. Well, we were using our same boarding passes and Holly didn't have one.  We arrived to the gate and Holly did not have a pass.  She took a small piece of paper and wrote her name on it and when it was her turn to board she handed her pass to the agent and smiled.  That's all.  Just smiled.  The agent told her it was a no go and I boarded without her!  My parting words?  "Don't worry - Dad won't leave you."

Eventually we all made it onto the plane.  We pulled out very quickly, as required by curfew.  As we looked out the windows, pulling away from the gate, someone pointed out, "Oh look - there's all our luggage."  The perfect end to the long way home: it was all still sitting on the tarmac.


I remember I wrote this story down shortly after it happened (I haven't yet found that record...) and, a few months later, read it to the family.  Nobody laughed.  It must have been too recent.

I can't help but chuckle every time I remember this story: it was not our happiest moment, but it was certainly memorable, and demonstrates so many things about our family that have stayed consistent.  It was totally expected that Matt was the one to buy the ice cream, Danny the one fixated on finding a way home, and Dad the one that wouldn't tolerate a hotel without air conditioning.  It is also humorous to imagine the caravan that I was so oblivious to growing up but that I'm sure turned heads.  Traveling was so fundamental to our growing up years: both for the struggles and for the laughs.