Day Seven with Grand Daughters

It was a big day for all of us. Grand Daughters were returning to their home and the motorhome was alive with activity. The girls were up and broke the sofa bed down to normal in record time. Breakfast went well with a good bowl of Quaker Squares for each. They quickly packed their suit cases - no help needed.

Grandmother tried to sell them on taking some eating goodies, but they were not willing to take anything. Finally, she convinced them to take a few Oreo cookies and some cheese and grapes. (At the airport, they refused to let us buy some water for them to carry.)

Check in went well. Both girls were upset that grandmother didn't use the e-check in. After all, they knew how to do it. But we stood in line and used the ticket agent, much to their disgust. (I confirmed with the agent afterwards that the e-checkin was not available for un-accompanied minor checkins.) Then it was to security, which was very busy. Since we had 90 minutes to flight time, we decided to wait until the line cleared, which again didn't set well with two young ladies, but they patiently waited with us in the general lobby area.

It was about 20 minutes later when the line was down to zero so we decided to enter the security area. (Sandy and I had special one time passes to use to deliver them to the boarding agent and then wait until the airplane lifts off.) While waiting, the eldest grand daughter turned to Grand Mother and said, "You can leave now!" The idea that they had to be treated like babies was very insulting to them. It was more waiting until about 30 minutes to flight time when the boarding agent readied her terminal. Knowing from my past travels of years ago, I casually went to the agent and asked when they'd like to board two un-accompanied minors? Her reaction was why not now if they're ready. (She did ask if they had flown before and I told her yes, many times, but always with mother.) So I motioned for Sandy to bring them to the gate area. The youngest grand daughter was a bit upset with grandmother. After all, they hadn't called for boarding yet so they needed to wait. But they came and it seemed like a flash, they were gone onto the airplane. The boarding agent did suggest to them that now was the time to give grandmother one last hug, or that little event would have been bypassed. Obviously, they were ready to go back home to mom and dad.

We then waited another 30 minutes or so until the airplane actually lifted off and departed. (Should the airplane cancel for any reason, the airline wants the delivering adults to be present to care for them, which we could understand.)

We did a few other things for the rest of the day and then returned to the motorhome. When we were both finally seated in our usual places, Sandy said, "It is so quiet here, and we have so much space!" Life will be different without our only two grand daughters in the house.

Gene