Exhaustion

The was:  Jonathan and his brother, Christopher, were returning from Ohio last night, flying in to FAY (the Fayetteville Regional Airport) at 11:20PM.

The is:  Jonathan and his brother, Christopher, had a canceled flight from Charlotte to Fayetteville and ended up being stuck at CLT.

What happened: 
Y'all I got two hours of sleep last night.  No lie.

Last Thursday for Christopher's fall break, he and Jonathan went to Ohio and some of the surrounding areas to view multiple museums (Motown Museum, Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, Ford Museum, and the list goes on).  The plan was for me to pick them up at the Fayetteville airport (about an hour and a half from our house) last night when they arrived at 11:20.  I had missed Jonathan a lot while he was gone, and I was so excited about getting them at the airport, so I left a little early at about 9:30.  It was actually a pleasant drive...  I heard lots of songs about how tonight was going to be a good night and about how JoJo was going to get back to where he once belonged.  It all seemed to build my excitement for finally seeing him after he was gone for so long (you know, 4 days).

When I was 15 minutes away from the airport, I got a text message from Jonathan.  I thought they had landed early, and I was even more excited.  I was also completely wrong.  The text said:  "problem with plane...  stuck".  Not. Cool.  So, I text back (illegally, mind you, since I was also trying to drive) and ask what I am supposed to do, given that I am already all the way in Fayetteville.  The reply?  "I think we are stuck in charlotte for tonight... trying to figure it out."  Great.  This is one of those really terrible "oh shit" moments.  What was I going to do?  I immediately pulled over into a trucker parking lot, made sure all the doors were locked, and then pulled out my GPS (Tom's cousin, Tom) to try to find the fastest way to Charlotte.  Guess what?  It was back the way I came.  There was no shorter route from Fayetteville to Charlotte; I was going to have to drive right back through Raleigh.  For those of you who don't know me, my #6 most hated thing is back-tracking.

At this point there were two options:  they could rent a car and drive to Raleigh, or I could go pick them up in Charlotte.  (Christopher could not miss his Monday classes, so they couldn't stay in Charlotte overnight.)  I figured either way I was going to be heading back towards the triangle, so while that decision was being hashed out I turned around and resumed my journey in the opposite direction.  I later get text message confirmation from Jonathan that there are two rental car places open:  one that was "sold out" of cars, and another that does not allow one-way trips.  Decision made - I was driving to Charlotte.

So I drove.  And I drove.  And I drove.  And then I slept a little while I was driving.  And I drove some more.  That's not actually true, I managed to stay awake, but just barely.  I'm embarrassed to admit (but since my mom is the only one who reads this, and she already knows) I like to go to sleep between 9:30 and 10:00PM.  I just get really sleepy and it's hard for me to stay up late, let alone do something that requires me to be fully conscious but only requires the functioning of my cerebellum.  Somehow, 3 and a half hours later, I arrived at CLT and loaded the boys up in the car.  Jonathan drove us back and they told me all about their trip, which was actually the one perk of this entire fiasco of a night:  we had an extended period of time while the trip was still fresh on their minds to talk all about it.  Great news - they had a good time.

After we dropped Christopher off at his apartment and made it home, it was 5:00 AM.  That's right, ladies and gentlemen (or just lady - hey mom!), I was in the car last night from 9:30PM until 5:00AM.  May I repeat?  Not. Cool.  To top it all off, I have classes on Monday morning and had to be up by 7AM to get there on time.  I ended up going to my classes and then spending the rest of today sleeping.  And I'm still exhausted.  In fact, I think I'll turn in a little earlier than my normal bedtime tonight - perhaps around 8:30.