Home Sweet Home

We pulled in around midnight last night.  The dog acted like one of those military reunion dogs.  She was crying even when she was with us.

There have been several posts in the last week concerning the humor in less than perfect public interactions.  For this last vacation post I just want to share a few people who were awesome this week.

The first one is the agent at the hotel (both at the beginning and end of the trip).  She was friendly.  You wanted to do more than just say "hey" and "thanks" so I took to saying "hi honey, we're home" as we returned from outings.  When it was time to drop off the rental, we took the bus from rental place to airport.  The hotel told us to call when we had reached ground transportation.  4 phone calls and 15 minutes later we finally caught the bus and all was well but it was pretty funny and she was pretty patient.

That very first day we ate at a Jack in the Box.  Greathusbandbob shared that this was my first Jack in the Box experience.  The server was so enthusiastic and laughing and smiling that I had to order her favorite just so she would like me more.  What a treat.

Last night was the best.  We were first to get on the parking shuttle after getting home.  We gave him what I thought was our stop number. The bus filled up and another couple was trying to get on in spite of that.  The driver told them there was another bus five minutes behind him and asked them to wait.  They grumbled and pouted and he told them to stop it and he finally let them on, crowding everyone in the back.

He has already collected all of the stop numbers but these last two impatient passengers had to dig around and hold things up to find theirs, slamming their luggage around as they did and announcing it was number 9.

During the drive he sneezed and looked a little startled when I said "bless you."  I guess he's used to feeling invisible.

He dropped us off and I (maybe a little loudly) said "you're stopping at nine last, right?"  He laughed.  We wandered around aimlessly.  He drove away and then drove back, knowing the parking area we needed didn't match the stop where we got off.  He made us get back on the bus and drove us where we needed to go.

Of course returning to the bus was awkward and to ease the uncomfortableness, greathusbandbob said "It's a three hour tour."  The driver said "I'm not Gilligan."  I said "Dear God, I'm glad your not, you're the professor!"  Then I announced that I was Ginger.  Then without blinking an eye he said, "Who are the Howell's?"  It was hilarious.

As he dropped us off he said "If I see you wandering around any more, you're going to have to come home with me."

It was one of those "I'm so tired, that was so nice and hilarious" moments that makes you feel like crying because someone was that helpful.  It was human beings on the planet enjoying life together as equals with no distinctions between age, class, race or otherwise and it was a small piece of experience that will stick with me for some time and make me feel just a little bit more o.k. about the state of the planet.