¿Qué?

See that upside-down question mark? Well, that's me... This past week was really weird.

I dislike flying. It requires a tranquilizer to even get me on one, and if you are ever unfortunate enough to be on a plane with me, you'll notice that I'm the only unhappy looking person on board. The flight on Sunday (5-1) was amazingly easy though, and I was kept entertained by my mom during the takeoff. Oh! I forgot to mention the "cool" part! The plane was at a "satellite station" and we had to use a shuttle to get to it. It took us on the runway and we were driving next to several planes as they took off. I really enjoyed that part.

I took 1/4 of the Ativan pill as soon as we got by the gate. We had an hour to wait, so it had enough time to take effect. When we got past the mountains near Reno, I realized that I was starting to climb the walls, so I took another 1/4 of the tablet. It relaxed me enough to deal with the landing.

As nearly everyone in the world knows, later that evening, I heard the good news that Osama Bin Laden had been captured and killed by U.S. troops. I rarely rejoice at news of death, but this one made me very happy.

Monday morning was meetings and I was presented with my badge for being a Southern California Representative and Advisor. I'm moving up in the world! (lol) There was a meeting Monday evening, but I overslept and missed it. I showered mom instead. Tuesday was meetings all day, and Wednesday morning too. Then there was free time until the Auction on Wednesday night. I won two silent auction items, and one of the live auction items. It was a hoot! Thursday morning was finishing up business and Closing, and Thursday night was Installation of new officers. I was installed as an honorary officer, but I'm one of the few honorary officers that actually has a speaking part. I'm really excited about it. I even get to wear a costume during a certain ceremony too! Friday morning we packed and went back to the airport to go home.

I was really excited to be going home, but Security was tighter than it had been at LAX and my belongings were taken apart and put through twice! I was very unhappy that it went that way, and it added to my stress level. When we finally got settled at the gate, I took 1/2 of an Ativan because I remembered the hellish flight and I wanted to be relaxed. About 20 minutes before our scheduled departure, we were told that our flight would be delayed by an hour. No big deal...I was medicated and I could deal with it. I was relaxed enough to be sleepy. 30 minutes later we were informed that the flight was canceled. That news made me unhappy. I wanted to go home! I missed Stitch, Fiona, Tsunami and the other cats. I missed my DVR and all the other luxuries, plus all my clothes needed laundering, except for one black t-shirt, a long black skirt and 2 pairs of underwear. The prospect of only having one outfit was unsettling for me. Normally I overpack, but this time, I had just enough plus one "extra" and I wasn't happy about needing to use the "extra"... The nice thing is that we were given vouchers for lodging and meals. The not-so-nice thing is that the hotel wasn't nearly as nice as where we were before (5 star vs. 2 star) and the meal vouchers only paid $10 for dinner and $5 each for breakfast and lunch. If you take into consideration that a beverage (coffee or soda) is $2.99, you'll see why I was disappointed. Oh well... I did get to see Reno's famous bowling alley. That was impressive! The next afternoon, I was armed with enough prior knowledge about security that I managed to get through without any hassles. One hour before scheduled takeoff, I took 1/2 an Ativan. I started out with 3, so that left me with 1 1/2 tablets. I figured it would be plenty. The plane arrived on time and I was put on first, but I was on the side where there was only one seat and mom was in front of me. NOT GOOD. The takeoff was bad, and mom reached around to hold my hand in an effort to calm me. It was useless. I took another 1/2 of the Ativan, and I curled up to a ball and covered my head with my coat as silent tears streamed down my face. Yeah, it was that ugly. The turbulence was really bad, and I debated taking my last Ativan, but decided that I might need it for later, so I kept it. Next time I'm offered a large amount of Ativan by my doctor, I won't turn it down. He was right... 3 wasn't enough. I was very happy and relieved to get home in one piece.