So which of us is responsible for the weather?
Mar 1st 2007
Karen RoseWhen Goddesses Fall To Earth
Okay, so we’re goddesses. We’ve got powers, right? Of course when we come down from the Mount we’re not allowed to use our powers. (Who made up that stupid rule anyway? And why did I obey it? What kind of sheep am I? Don’t answer that question.)
Of course those of you that were still sipping ambrosias at the Mt. Olympus Garden Club were SUPPOSED to be watching out for those of us traveling among the humans. This would include blowing away any troublesome weather that closes down airports.
So which one of you goddesses was SLEEPING ON THE JOB Sunday AND Monday whilst I sat in the Minneapolis-St.Paul airport for EIGHTEEN HOURS playing solitaire and re-reading the sex scenes in the books I had in my carry-on bag??????
Okay, so re-reading the sex scenes wasn’t such a bad thing. And the airline did give us meal vouchers and I used mine to buy ice cream. But even good things get old when you’re sitting on your keister for EIGHTEEN HOURS. Where was Pegasus when I needed him?
I’ve traveled a lot in my adult life, mostly for my job. I’ve been stuck in an awful lot of airports, but one evening about 8 years ago sticks out in my mind.
(WARNING: Tissue alert. Tissue alert.)
I was coming back from 
Then there was SOMEBODY in my seat. I almost snapped at her, then I saw the walker under her seat. She was about seventy and very apologetic and I felt bad for being cranky. We started to chat, because I chat with everybody. Her name was Mary and she’d come from
Mary looked very sad and told me her tale. Her husband of almost fifty years had died quite suddenly the year before, in Michigan. After the funeral, her sister had invited her to come and stay with her in her
Well, I eventually did get home – twelve hours after that. After they fixed the broken electrical thingie, they put us back on the plane, but snow had begun to fall. We waited as we were de-iced, then took position for take-off and waited some more as it continued to snow. Finally the flight attendant came on the PA and said we were going back to the gate because the airport was CLOSED. 
We were all VERY PISSED. I was glad Mary was on her way home via the bus. Then the airline made it all perfect by telling us they wouldn’t comp a hotel or meal for the rest of us because the snow was an “act of God.” Hmmmmmmmm. Yes the snow was an act of God, but the crew and the pilot and the broken electrical thingie were all the fault of the airline. I wanted to … well, it’s good I wasn’t a goddess then, or they would have had lightning bolts shoved where the sun don’t shine.
Eventually I met up with some other people from my company who were also returning from Japan. We rented a car and drove the five hours to Cincinnati. When we got the rental car, one of them said, “Where’s your grandmother? Isn’t she coming?” I’d never met Mary before, but in those few hours she became very important to me. I never heard from Mary again, but every time I get stranded in an airport, I remember her.
So have you ever been able to play Good Samaritan? Have you ever been on the receiving end? How did you feel? And which one of you is responsible for the snowstorm that shut down air traffic in the northern US last weekend????
22 Comments »
22 Responses to “So which of us is responsible for the weather?”
KMB25 on 01 Mar 2007 at 12:32 am #
Awwww…I really did have to reach for a tissue reading your story! I try to do the same…especially in airports as I, too, travel a lot with my job.
Coincidentally, I got caught in the same grouping of storms that you did…only in the Nashville airport and I was trying to GET to my gig. The band I travel with was supposed to fly to Dallas/Fort Worth on Saturday and because of high winds and possible tornadoes, all flights to Dallas got cancelled out of Nashville that day. Ok fine, I can live without the paycheck as I was somewhat sick anyways, and I can’t REALLY complain too much because I, of course, could go back home…but it was a pain in the rear to have to pay for food, and parking in the airport and not go anywhere..2 days in a row!
Second attempt to get to Dallas…the Sunday that you were also stuck…brilliant minds thought that flying out at 6:35am was a good idea to still try to make the gig. Not so much really. Again, got to the airport on 3 hours sleep…waited 2 hours to find out that the flight crew wasn’t legal to fly for another 2 hours….FINALLY the band leader decided maybe this wasn’t a good weekend and we should re-schedule.
On another flight from LA to Nashville, I sat and befriended 2 unaccompanied minors (brothers) who were flying back to their Mom’s house after their visit with their Dad across country…it’s so sad to see how divorces affect the children..especially when they have to travel so far to see loved ones. I played cards and talked and told jokes with them for almost four hours, and it was so worth it! You could tell that they were happy that someone actually wanted to spend time with them…I remember being so exhausted from my gig that weekend and just wanting to sleep on the plane, but I would do the same thing all over again in a heartbeat!
~Kim
kimber on 01 Mar 2007 at 1:03 am #
I can’t say that I can control the weather, but, it seems like every time I wash my car it rains. I don”t know if it’s just me or what. I once got stuck in an airport due to a time change issue; but that is a whole nother story. Terminals are very”terbulent ” areas. I hope to not have difficulte times in them!! lol
Karen H in NC on 01 Mar 2007 at 8:25 am #
I’m geographically confused here: You were coming back from Japan and you were stuck in Detroit while trying to change planes. You were on a plane going to Cincinnati. I can understand this part, but it seems there would have been better choice airports to make that change. On that plane was a woman traveling from Florida to someplace in Central Michigan. Why was this woman on the same plane as you were? I’ve heard of screwed up flight scheduling, but this takes the cake. Why travel north 1200 miles only to travel south 200 miles to ultimately travel north 300 miles?
And I thought my one flight problem was bad….it wasn’t compared to others. But it was bad enough for me to decide that when I travel between NC and MI, I drive, not fly; especially at Christmas. Even with the possibility of bad roads, I can still drive the 800 miles faster than I can fly it. The first (and only) time I flew home for Christmas was in ‘00. My flight left Raleigh on time at 6:10AM. Arrived in Atlanta on time at about 8:15 AM. It went down hill from there. The connecting plane was coming from Florida and it was delayed. It was to have left Atlanta at 9AM, but didn’t arrive in Atlanta until 12PM. It was further delayed from takeoff to Michigan because the present crew had been flying too long and needed to be replaced. It took another 3 hours to round up a fresh crew. By the time that flight took off, I had been sitting in Atlanta for about 8 hours. I finally arrived at the Flint, MI airport at about 6:30PM. I should have arrived at 11:15AM. Needless to say, I never got on another plane after that.
Karen Rose on 01 Mar 2007 at 8:45 am #
Karen H in NC - ahhh - you caught the flight planning nuance that told me at the beginning it was going to be a bad day, lol. There were two flights that got me from Japan to Cinci - one from Osaka through Detroit and the other from Nagoya through Portland (a nicer flight). Of course my company liked me to take the first one because it was a bit cheaper. As for Mary, her flights had been messed up all day. She’d been trying to get to MI, but all her connections had been cancelled, so the last flight into the airport where her family lived was out of Cinci. Ack.
My MN friends recently traveled to FL through Memphis. Flight delays ensued. THey were offered a substitute flight from Memphis, to Detroit, then back to Jacksonville. They’d come from MN. They declined, opting for a more streamlined path through Atlanta. I’m not sure how flight planners come up with some of the routes. Perhaps there is a logical explanation that one of our goddesses can provide!
I just wanna get home to FL at this point and Chicago is expecting snow tomorrow (NOOOOOOOO).
Karen Rose on 01 Mar 2007 at 8:52 am #
KMB - it’s so nice that you played with those kids. I occasionally would send my daughter to spend a week with my parents during the summer and I was always afraid she’d get stuck somewhere on the way. I would have wanted someone to be so kind to her
Now my little daughter is almost 17 and a REALLY good kid. A few weeks ago we were at Disney and she and I were on one of the shuttle buses - packed like sardines. We were first on and got seats, but a mom with an infant had to stand and my daughter was first to offer the woman her seat. I was so proud.
Sometimes the little kindnesses do more for the doer than the do-ee.
Julia London on 01 Mar 2007 at 11:23 am #
I am responsible for the weather. Skies are sunny and warm over Texas, but I had to make some trade offs to get it picture perfect. I know Connie Brockway lives in tundra up there somewhere and thought, what the hell…she’s used to it. She even brags about it! Sorry, Karen R.
I used to work for the feds and traveled all the time in that hellish job. As only feds can do, every flight was on the cheap, and therefore, through a lot of little cities with long layovers. Never mind how much productivity you are losing by making someone fly from one coast to the next over 24 hours, you saved $100 on airfare! Anyway, I have had to fly around, over, or sit and wait out many blizzards back in my salad days. I still suffer PTSD from thinking of it.
Bless your heart, Karen R. I would have killed someone if I was stuck in Detroit for 18 hours!
KMB25 on 01 Mar 2007 at 11:45 am #
I like to always think of that movie “Pay it Forward” when I’m in an airport…as too often you end up meeting people who are just awful!
Also, I’ve recently decided that when travelling it’s a good idea to avoid going through Memphis at ALL costs. I don’t think I’ve ever flown through there on a connection that was on time. (and usually it wrecked travel plans for the rest of the weekend!)
I would have to admit though, waiting in airports is when I get to read the most! I was able to finish Julia London’s “The Hazards of Hunting a Duke”(sorry, no underline capability!)…and curiosity about more books led me to her website, which consequently, led me to this awesome blog!
So perhaps my delay was a good thing?
~Kim
Suzanne Enoch on 01 Mar 2007 at 12:59 pm #
I’ve tried to control the weather, but Julia won’t tell me the secret. And I love being the good Samaritan. What’s sad is how many people are just stunned and don’t know what to say when you do them a tiny favor. But that’s part of the fun, too.
Suzanne Enoch
Julia London on 01 Mar 2007 at 1:15 pm #
Speaking for just me, Kim, I’d say your delay was an excellent thing! ;-).
Suzanne, I would teach you the weather trick if you would ever show up with martini in hand. Its one of those things that really needs the right mood.
TheNightPoet on 01 Mar 2007 at 2:51 pm #
So it was you, Julia, who was responsible for causing it to rain yesterday and then snow last night??? Why?? Tell me, what is the secret? haha I will say thank you for the warm weather we have receieved here lately. It’s been a nice treat. What would you suggest I wear this weekend? Warm clothes for colder weather or lighter colthes for warmer weather? Do tell oh fellow goddess! I await your command. haha
Andrea
Sabrina Jeffries on 01 Mar 2007 at 3:08 pm #
I haven’t had many chances to play Good Samaritan, but thanks to my autistic son, I’ve had to rely on Good Samaritans often. One time, I’d wrestled Nick to the side of a highway a mile from our house after he’d run off and stopped traffic for several minutes dancing in the street. I had to keep him restrained on the ground, because he kept making a beeline for the highway. A kind passerby stopped to help. There wasn’t much he could do, except that he did spot a state trooper coming by, and he flagged him down. That ended up being the best thing, since the trooper agreed to carry me and my son home in the squad car (I guessed correctly that Nick would jump at the chance to ride in the big car with the flashing red and blue lights). I know the trooper was probably just doing his job, but he did go way beyond the call of duty and the passerby was a godsend, too.
So I do appreciate all you Good Samaritans out there, and I try to pass it on when I can. At the very least, I tend to be much kinder to parents with misbehaving small children than the average person. I know how hard it is.
OV_099 on 01 Mar 2007 at 4:13 pm #
Well, there was this one time some year back in this one computer programming class, and it was the lab time. There was this guy there, we were friends. . . I’m not sure who was the first or second to come in, but somehow that day we started talking and he was having some sort of really bad day or time of it. So we left the class (which was ironic in that the teacher was out that day, and the lecture class was cancelled the next period) and sat at the end of the hallway near the door and talked. Some point during the time he said thanks if it weren’t for you I’d off myself or the like. . . always hoped he was kidding with that in a bad joke, but still, I’m someone who never actually knows what to do or say or write, and I apparently helped him that day.
Lois
June on 01 Mar 2007 at 4:24 pm #
HI Karen,
So sorry to hear that you were stuck in the airport so long! Of course I was even more sorry since I am a member of the RWA Chicago North chapter and was so looking forward to meeting you Monday night!
Honestly, when they announced at the meeting you weren’t going to make it we all felt so bad for you. We sent up a little prayer hoping that you weren’t now stuck circling O’Hare!
Glad to see all eventually went well for you!
As far as Good Samaritans, I was on a plane full of them when my daughter was two and we took her to Disney World. She kept getting up and down the whole flight and saying hi to everyone and telling them her name. All the passengers were so nice and when the plane landed, they would stop and say “Bye Michelle, have fun.”
A week later when we boarded the plane to return home we were finding our seats suddenly this young woman got up and said, “Hey, it’s Michelle. Hi Michelle!”
I couldn’t believe we were going home with some of the same people! I nearly died!
June
Nicole Jordan on 01 Mar 2007 at 5:00 pm #
Oh gosh, Karen, what an awful experience. I would have been postal by then. And you’re right about warning us to have tissues standing by. That was a really touching story.
Thankfully my airline delays haven’t been nearly as bad as yours. And my recent GS tale wasn’t as poignant as yours either. Over the holidays I was flying back home with my dh and we ran into some BAD air turbulance. The woman sitting next to me was scared out of her wits, so I made her grip my hand and started talking to her about her studies… she was just starting her residency in oncology. She knew I was just trying to distract her but it worked cause she settled down some. But she didn’t like the trick I use to psych myself out. I pretend I’m on a roller coaster ride and the ups and dows are all part of the ride. Trouble was, she hated roller coasters even worse than flying!
Maybe Julia will get her act together and give us all better weather — and take care of global warming while she’s at it. If she doesn’t we may have to consider kicking her off Mount Oly to live among the non-goddesses.
NicoleJ
Julia London on 01 Mar 2007 at 5:07 pm #
This is what happens when goddesses are too busy lying around eating grapes and strumming their lutes to read the manual. I read the manual.
I can’t promise anything about the weather! I like to keep everyone guessing and it really depends on my mood. Like I said, if there were martinis involved, I might be a kinder, gentler goddess.
As for being a good samaritan, I hope that my usual lack of memory is why I cannot recall ever being one. Surely, surely, I did something nice somewhere along the way. Surely.
Karen Rose on 01 Mar 2007 at 5:17 pm #
Hey girls. OK - Julia, if I get home to FL out of Midway tomorrow, all will be forgiven! Oh, secondarily, I will gladly repay you with a martini at RWA for a weather miracle tomorrow.
Sabrina, bless that officer. I’ve had folks help me before and I’m always grateful.
June, I’m so sorry I didn’t make it to your chapter. I was so frustrated!!! I left a day and a half cushion to get there on time, but snow happened. In fact, I was circling Midway for almost an hour while you all were meeting. I didn’t land until after 8pm that night. By the time I found out my luggage was still at Minneapolis airport, it was nearly 9pm. I had some major wine at dinner that night, which occurred about 10pm.
Nicole - you helping that person on the plane was a huge thing. I remember when I was afraid to fly and people talked to me. Big huge help. But my fear of flying is a story for another day.
Sabrina, I got to visit with DeVar at his firehouse while I was in Chicago! He says hello!
Ladytink_534 on 01 Mar 2007 at 5:54 pm #
I’ve been on the recieving end recently. I was going home for my birthday and the holidays a little earlier than my husband and I hadn’t flew since I was 12. I hated it then and I wasn’t that pleased about it last December either. I was seated next to a guy a year or so older than me and he talked to me the entire flight to help me from being so scared.
Kay on 01 Mar 2007 at 9:40 pm #
Karen, we loved having you here in MN, but you missed the REAL SNOW, it came today!:-)
I can see you helping that elderly lady. You’re that kind of person.
My GS airline story came when flying with small childern, coming back to MN from Disney. It was a family trip, NOT to be confused with a vacation. We had the usual delays, etc, then hit fog of all things, and were told we had to circle, and circle, and…well, you get the picture. So close and yet so far.
An older couple across the aisle started talking to each other in a panaic after the announcement was made. It seems that the husband had just gone to the rest room and given himself his insulin, when we were told that we were approaching MPLS—before the announcement about the fog and endless circling.
Being nosy, I could not help but listen to their frantic conversation. I offered them juice boxes, cheese, crackers, and some applesauce—my Mommy stash–this was before the TSA carryon rules (I won’t get started, my politics will start showing), and I had enough in my bag to make a decent meal. The flight attendant saw the hurried distribution from the diaper bag, and asked if there was a problem. When she heard about the insulin, she notified the pilots and we were the next plane to land. Yea!
Karen Rose on 01 Mar 2007 at 10:04 pm #
See - it pays to be nice - Kay got her entire flight landed early. I hope all the passengers were appropriately grateful
It was good they weren’t sitting next to me. I usually carried boxes of Tic Tacs. I don’t think that would have helped that man.
I had a wonderful time in MN last week. Nice, nice people, especially my hostess - which was Kay in the previous post.
Well, Julia, the martini is on me! Chicago’s had rain all day and it’s warm. Hopefully my flight home tomorrow will be uneventful! As for TSA carryon rules - I’d love to take home a half-frozen deep dish Chicago pizza to my DH, but alas, it’s not allowed. He says it’s okay, that I should just bring him home me instead. AWWW.
June on 01 Mar 2007 at 11:07 pm #
Karen,
They are calling for more snow here in Chicago tomorrow. I hope you can make it out without incident. Hopefully we can catch you next time you’re in town!
June
TheNightPoet on 02 Mar 2007 at 1:16 am #
‘hands Juila a Martini’ So now will you make it just a little bit warmer this weekend? hehe I’d be eternally greatful!
As for a Good Samaritan, a couple years ago, maybe more like a year and half, I was at work (I work in a dept. store) and my manager approached me and asked me to do him a favor. I said, “Sure. What do you need me to do?” He then told me that we were having a blind customer shop with us and he wanted me to shop with her and describe things to her. I agreed to help her out. She came to the deparment I work in and my manager introduced me to her and from then on I had the privilege of shopping around the store with her. She was a sweet, older lady that was fun to talk to and very sure about what she was looking for. She held onto my arm so I could lead her around the store as well. When I was describing things to her, at first I just described them normally, like I would to any person shopping with us, but then I had to remember she was blind and needed my descriptions to get a picture in her mind. I learned a lot from her that day. I got to see things from a new perspective and it made me realize that the stuff I was describing to her took on a new appearance to me. I will always remember what she taught me that day and take with me my new “look” on things around me.
Andrea
Daisy W on 05 Mar 2007 at 2:21 pm #
My previous jobs often put me in the places to help out people. Before I had my son and decided to stay home with him, I drew blood, worked for a doctor, in a hospital and at a blood center, and such. So, I have done some unusual things and helped people out. What I learned working under those condictions, and what a lot of people don’t realise, is we help people out everyday and don’t even know it. Sometimes that greatest thing you can do for someone is to take the time to say Hello, how are you doing today? and really mean it. Or take the time to listen to them. Yeah you helped Mary out, but the greatest gift you gave was your time and your ear. She really needed someone to listen to her talk about her husband and about her lost. That is what she needed more then the blankets. I went into draw blood on this one little old lady. She was about 65. I don’t even remember why she was in the hospital. When I got there, she was on the phone, so I waited for her to finish her call. When she hung up, she started to cry. She tried not to and even told me to go ahead and draw the blood she would be ok. But instead I sat down beside her and asked her what was wrong. She told me that the call was from a friend of hers to let her know that her best friend of over 40 years had just died. I sat and cried with her and listened to her stories. And when her doctor came in to take her to have test run, I told him what happened. He canceled all her test for that and rescheduled her blood work. And even though I never drew her blood, and she never even knew my name or why I had been there, she remembered me later when she saw in the hall. Some times it is the little things that are the most important.