I can’t imagine what I did to deserve a partner like Maria. These flowers arrived this morning with a card: “A flower for every day I’ll miss you!,” Love Maria.
Love back, my love, I have bought you a massage and room service meal in Dubai.
The first day of the India expedition did not go as planned. Raging storms, cancelled flights, shoveling and shoveling exhaustion, confusion and frustration all around. Maria was heroic driving through snowstorms, getting to the airport, learning at the last minute that the flight was cancelled, getting to a hotel, heading back to the airport.
Here new flight is scheduled to depart at noon today, and the weather – despite all of the hysterical predictions from the media and many people – is clear in Boston. They have begun pre-boarding. The flight is 12 hours, but this time, she has 16 hours to spend in Dubai before her new connecting flight to Kolkata.
The airline bought her a hotel room and I got her a message and a meal. They know how to do those things in Dubai, I am told.
It was not the weather that caused the cancellation of the flight, it was some unnamed “mechanical problems.”
She will arrive a bit late in Kolkata, but the first day was a rest day, she may show up rested and ready to go for the second day, which is when the real stuff happens, including her teaching.
Maria is a trooper, she is determined to go to Kolkata, and she is patient and steady and strong, she was challenged in so many different ways yesterday. Today feels better, simpler, more organized. Not having a blizzard helps.
She kept her cool, made good decisions and handled everything beautifully. It was a wacky day for me also, less stressful I am sure. My fantasy about sitting down in the pre-dawn hours were blown away by the storm, I have been shoveling and scraping for days. I had help this morning, but more about that later. A fierce wind outside and cold weather, more snow on Wednesday.
Maria and I could talk as often as we wished up until today, after she leaves it will be different. I will savor these flowers, I trust this re-set will work out. Soon, she’ll be in the air.