slowly she turned

In the morning, I went down to have breakfast and say goodbye to the members of our tour group. The news was on TV there and I was once again swept away with grief about what was happening to my friends in the path of Helene. One person who lingered at the table beside me was a woman who I had talked with a lot during our trip. She made a crack about Biden and I knew for sure then that she was MAGA. We had studiously stayed away from talking politics during the trip.

So when I rose to go upstairs, we hugged, and I said to her, “I gather from what you said that you are a conservative.” She said yes. “Well, you may have guessed that I am very liberal. And what I hope that we can both take away from this is that we got along very well. It gives me hope for the future,” I said.

We hugged, we talked for a while longer, and then I took my leave of the group. Sandy, of course, was now feeling better, but the die was cast and the tickets bought. We left Inverness on the train.

The ride through the Cairngorms to Edinburgh was beautiful. I took a two minute video at the highest point on the rail line. I’ve always been a fan of being able to see the bones of the earth, even though I hate to see humans strip it of trees. It’s one reason that I love to go west. Maybe it’s because I’ve always lived in very green North Carolina.

We got off the train at Haymarket and almost immediately got on the tram (Edinburgh’s Metro) to the airport, where we stopped at the disability assistance office because I was looking for a bus stop to the hotel that was no longer there. This was a fortunate stop, because they were of great help that day and the next. A staff member wheeled Sandy back to the new bus stop, and told us what to do the next day for assistance. We stayed in a nearby hotel that night.

At Edinburgh airport, the disability assistance folks were kind and helpful. We were taken to a lounge just for people with disabilities in the heart of the airport, and when the time came to board the plane, Sandy was wheeled to the gate. He was somewhat resistant to all this, since he hates to be waited on and wants to do everything himself, and that attitude made us fight off and on throughout the day. However, it was necessary, and he finally accepted that. The last thing that we needed was for him to fall again, and it was painful for him to walk more than five minutes so he was very slow.

United Airlines and the gate agent at Edinburgh saved the day for us by moving someone on our row to another window seat and so for the long flight to DC we had the middle seat empty and Sandy did not have to worry about getting his broken arm bumped. United had given us Economy Plus seats for the whole trip at little extra cost. His cold was progressively better while I started to feel it.

Wheelchair assistance at Dulles and Newark was a much different experience. At Dulles, at least, the assistant who was ordered ahead of time was at the gate and extremely helpful in getting us all the way through customs, picking up and rechecking our luggage, and making our connection with a little time to spare. I was practically trotting along behind he was moving along so fast. I made a much needed stop at the bathroom and the assistant hit Sandy up for a tip. Sandy only had a twenty dollar bill and gave it to him. I came back and the assistant was hurrying away. It pissed me off that he pressured Sandy when he was vulnerable, but in hindsight I have to admit that his help was worth a $20 tip.

At one point when we thought we might miss the connection we discussed leaving the airport and taking a train to Greensboro. It would cost us more but it would have been about the same amount of time to get home and would have been more comfortable. I mean, it’s insane to have to fly in the opposite direction to catch another flight home, but that’s how it is sometimes.

On this flight to Newark, Sandy was on the aisle and I was in the middle so he had to be vigilant about his arm. When we exited, the help we had been promised at the gate was not there and the gate agent made many calls. Finally when it appeared that we would miss our connection there if we didn’t get help immediately, he stepped out and snagged one of the assistants wheeling an empty chair going by, and it was another mad dash through the airport and over a shuttle bus but we made our flight home to Greensboro. We would never have made that connection had we tried to walk it, and I was getting weepy at the thought of having to spend the night in Newark and trying to get home in the morning.

Once we got home, Pablocito was so very happy to see us and he has stuck to me like glue ever since. I wish that he would pay attention to Sandy, but he has made it clear that I am his person. I suppose it is good that Sandy doesn’t have a cat pawing at his arm and jumping on him the way that Diego did, but I know Sandy needs the love of a furry feline.

Now we are concentrating on getting Sandy healed up.