I Suck At Picking Relatives Up At The Airport

I love my mom, but she can drive me crazy some times. Case in point: picking up my relatives at the airport. Although in her defense, Monday's comedy of errors wasn't totally all her fault.

During the day, my mom was gracious enough to help take care of my eighteen month old daughter (Briana) while I did some work around the house. I took this week off from work because my aunt from Hong Kong was coming for a visit. At the same time, my brother (Eugene) was also coming up from Texas to spend time with my parents and my aunt. So it was going to be a big family week. Hence, the vacation.

Anyway, I did accomplish a lot of home improvement tasks around the house thanks to my mom during the day. Unfortunately, it was after that where things got a little crazy.

Originally, the plan was for me to pick up my brother at the airport because he was arriving earlier than my aunt. That plan was soon changed because my brother apparently was meeting an old co-worker when he arrived in Boston. So in the typical Chinese fashion of asking (ie. telling) me, I was asked to pick up my aunt instead.

Sure, no problem. My aunt's arrival time was at 19:27pm. I had calculated that as 7:27pm... as did my mom when I had first inquired about my aunt's arrival time. Naturally, somehow during the day, the arrival time became 17:27pm because my mom said she had told me the wrong time.

Two hours isn't a major difference. Unfortunately, the time impacts Briana. At 7:27pm, Briana is usually asleep. 5:27pm... not so much. Plus, 5:27pm impacts Karen's time because she doesn't get home until around that time and I was originally planning on having her watch Briana while I went to the airport.

Due to the change in time, I then asked Karen to meet me at my parents' (instead of home) to pick up Briana while I go to the airport. First obstacle taken care of.

While waiting for Karen at my parents, my brother called asking to be picked up at the train station. My parents do not live far at all from the train station, but my mom told my brother that we'd pick him up. Apparently, my brother also then wanted to go to the airport to pick up my aunt.

By the time I picked up my brother, it was about 6pm. Yes, that is after 5:27pm. Luckily, picking up my brother was a good thing because it made my mom get my aunt's itinerary. Sure enough, my aunt's arrival time was 7:27pm. So all that running around to get Karen to pick up Briana... useless.

The fun doesn't stop there. With the extra time to kill, my brother, my mother and I decided to just wait at my parents'. So midway through Wheel of Fortune, which is aired at 7pm, my father tries to rush us out of the house saying we're going to be late in picking up my aunt. My brother, who was tracking my aunt's flight via his iPhone, said the plane had not even arrived in Boston yet.

When the plane did arrive according to my brother's iPhone, we headed off to the airport. Now, I suck at picking relatives up at the airport. As the driver, I was more than happy to tell my brother and my mother to give me a call when they found my aunt at the airport. So off I went to the cell phone parking lot after dropping them off at the terminal. And there I waited... and waited... and waited.

Well over an hour later, I came to learn the following from my brother:

1) My mom and my brother could not locate my aunt;
2) My mom thought everyone looked like my aunt;
3) My mom panicked thinking she lost my aunt;
4) My aunt's flight arrived on time;
5) My aunt, however, was not on the original flight;
6) My aunt was delayed due to Customs, thus missing her original flight;
7) My aunt sent a text message indicating her delay to my brother;
8) My aunt unfortunately sent the text message to the wrong number;
9) My brother, my mom, and my aunt had to wait a while at the baggage claim for my aunt's suitcase;
10) My aunt's suitcase was 5 feet from where they were waiting and had been there for quite some time;

Fun times. I'm glad I waited in the cell phone parking lot. But at least the good news is that everyone arrived safely.