February 9th
through February 15th:
Surprise! I am sitting on a plane flying from Mexico City to Las Vegas.
That is the teaser and you will have to read the whole blog to get the why and
the how. Tuesday, mom went to the doctor to have
her MRI read. He said, she had 2 tares
in her meniscuses, one a 3rd degree and the other a 2nd degree
and that she should have arthroscopic surgery to clean up the tares. We knew something was wrong because sometimes
it would lock up and other times it would click. One of the reasons we are flying home is to
get a second opinion about mom’s knee.
Back in December we asked for permission to fly to Salt Lake during the
closure of the temple. I need to see a
doctor to get a new prescription for my blood thinner medication and I haven’t
been able to find the same brand of medication here in Mexico. So we decided to use this time to also get a
second opinion on Chris’ knee. We have known
for some time that we would be coming home for a short visit but we have tried
to keep it a secret from everyone except our kids. The cheapest tickets we found were from
Mexico City to Las Vegas. Wednesday mom
also went to see the dentist for the last time.
She got her 2 crowns installed and we are hoping that all is well now. Thursday we had 3 buses come from Puebla and
we had a very busy day in the temple. I
spent a few hours doing sealings and helping mom out. She has had the task for alphabetizing all of
the personal ordinance sheets and recommends.
This has been a huge job and has taken many, many, hours of checking
that we have an ordinance sheet for every recommend and a recommend for every
ordinance sheet. But they have to be
alphabetized separately. I also got the
history report for 2014 sent in to church headquarters. That was a big relief off my shoulders. Friday we had 2 buses and it was a very nice
day in the temple and we got the personal ordinance sheets and recommends
shipped off to Salt Lake. Mom can relax
now. Saturday we had 4 buses and we were
very busy. In the afternoon I had the
honor of sealing one of our secretaries and her husband. Her family is from Juchitan down by the
Itsmo. The dresses her sisters and mom
had on were gorgeous. They are a very
cute couple, who meet at Berimerito during high school. They both went on missions; he had to wait
for her. Then we got packed and headed
down to the bus station. We had
purchased bus tickets to Mexico City and I got nervous because everyone was
saying that there is a lot of road work going on and it would take longer than
we had planned. So we got there early to
try and get on an earlier bus. No luck
they were all full. So we had a 2 hour
wait for our bus that left at midnight.
We arrived about 6:30am only a little late. We took a taxi to the airport and went to the
Volaris counter and they explained that, the check-in for their international
flights is in another building. So we
had to walk for maybe 10 minutes. We
went through and checked our bags and got our boarding passes and were told we
needed to see immigration once we were pass security. At immigration I was informed that because I
only brought a copy of my temporary residency card that I could not leave the
country. When we got our cards, the
missionary who helped us told us to carry a copy because if we lost the card we
would have a very difficult time getting another one. So I always carry a copy. Mom had her card so she got on the plane and
I had to return to Oaxaca to get my card.
But first I had to go and get my ticket changed and find out about my
bag that had been checked. I gave mom by
baggage ticket just in case it would not have to be pulled off the plane. In order to leave the secure area I had to
walk for at least 15 minutes and then walk all the way back to where we had
checked in. There they said that they
would have to pull my bag so they printed me another claim ticket and sent me
back to the first Volaris counter where we had tried to check in when we
arrived. There I got my ticket changed
(not a cheap change) and I was told to
go to international arrivals and wait for my bag and that it could be a couple
of hours. After 2 hours I went back to
the Volaris ticket counter and explained that I could not wait all day for my
bag because I had to return to Oaxaca and get my temporary residency card. A nice young man, who was a member of the
church, took pity on me and said that he would have someone find my bag and
that it would be at the counter where we were talking in the morning. I was off to TAPO the name of the bus station
closest to the airport. I got on a bus
at 1:00pm and bought a return ticket for 11:15pm, thinking that an extra 45
minutes couldn’t hurt. The bus ride back
to Oaxaca was more than an hour longer than the bus ride to Mexico City,
because of road work and traffic. I got
back to the apartment at 8:30pm. I took
a shower and changed clothes and went a bought a hamburger. Pres. Pena took me back to the bus
station. When we arrived in Mexico City
the traffic was stop and go for miles and miles. I finally went and talked to the bus driver
and he said, this is normal. Well it
wasn’t anything like the day before, but the day before had been a Sunday. He said we had at least another hour to get
to the station. That 45 minutes that I
thought couldn’t hurt got used up and then some. But I made it back to the ticket counter by
6:45am. My flight was scheduled to leave
at 9:00am. Alan the young man who had
helped me the day before said that the bag was in international arrivals and to
wait a minute and he would have someone go with me to get it. After almost 30
minutes of waiting, (I don’t wait really well) I said I will go down there and
try and find it and to send the girl to find we. I got through another set of security and my
bag was not there. I waited for about 10
minutes and Carina showed up and said that the bag was back at the
counter. The walk between all these
places is a hike. I asked if I could go
upstairs and check in at the Volaris international counter and if the person
who had the bad couldn’t bring to me there.
She agreed and so I made my way to where I could check in. I got in line and started filling out my
immigration sheet. Finally a man showed
up with my bag and I got through the check in process and through security and
through immigration and to the gate with 20 to spare before they started
boarding. I am finally calm and grateful
that I am going to be able to spend a few weeks with my children and grand
kids. Three 6 to 7 ½ hour bus rides, two
nights in a row on a bus, and 4 taxis rides and more stress than I want to have
ever again were an adventure that I am sure I will look back on and laugh at,
at some point, but right now it is way too much of recent nightmare. I was so stressed out when I found out that I
could not leave the country with Chris that I couldn’t think straight and I
think I might have had a panic attack.
But as the day went on and we had a clear plan as to what I needed to
do, I calmed down and stopped hyperventilating.
From somewhere over Mexico, Saludos and Abrazos.
I'll post the pictures when I get a chance.
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