Baby Sister

My baby sister.
My parents decided to leave her behind for an extra week of fun.
I was quite looking forward to it ... I moved out when she was six, and so haven't spent as much time with her as the other siblings.
Plus, she's so similar to myself at that age that it's almost creepy.  I have felt for a while that this has made me harder on her, instead of more understanding ... something that needed some serious remedy-ing.

And so she stayed for a  California adventure, and boy did we give it to her.
She did a little babysitting (bless her), and we did a little shopping. 

A little beach-ing.
A lot of eating.
And of course, if you know Rachel at all, we naturally did a lot of game-ing.

We also did nails, massages, twinner hair styles and borrowed clothes.  We caught some rays and then drenched each other in aloe vera.  We loaded up on sugar and made empanadas and talked about boys and best friends and the ups and downs of being 12 years old.   

You know, all those basic sister things.

Plus two crazy kids.

Rachel taught Mac a top-secret handshake.  (Which Mark has now taken over.)

And then I had to go ahead and make the week above and beyond memorable.

She how happy she is in that last picture?

Little does she know, she's in for the scare of her life.

And the rest of ours.

See, she's only ever been on an airplane once, about four years ago.  And she's never been on one by herself.  So she was a little nervous to begin with to make her big trek home.

And then I went ahead and confirmed all her worst fears.

No, I didn't make the plane blow up.

But I put her on the wrong plane.

AAAAAAAAAAck.  Here's what happened:  Belen was tired.  Rachel was nervous.  I was thoroughly distracted.  I got us to the right gate easily enough.  We sat down and talked about what would happen, who to talk to, when to get on and off, who to follow, etc. etc.  Then the plane arrived and group A started lining up to board the plane.  It was about forty minutes before her scheduled take-off, which was a little early, but not significantly enough to cause any red flags in my mind.  I've usually boarded my flights about a half hour early.  Ten extra minutes shouldn't mean anything, right? 

Wrong. 

Well, I introduced her to the flight attendant and told her I needed to head out so Belen would sleep in the car for me.  She asked me to stay, I told her she was a big girl and could do it.

And I left.

Got a phone call a couple of hours later.  "Hi, is this Allison Gunn?  We have your sister here in San Jose, California."

WHAT.

Turns out, the flight to San Jose was and earlier scheduled flight leaving out of our same gate, but was late.  I didn't listen one bit to anything that was said over the intercom.  The man who was checking everyone's tickets was obviously quite rushed in order to get everyone through before the next plane (our plane) came needing the gate.  So he hustled Rachel (and several others) on without even scanning her ticket.

And she was sent to San Jose. 

She later told me after she had landed and discovered all the "Welcome to San Jose" signs and the initial shock settled, she gathered her racing thoughts and said to herself, "Do something do something do something!"  And had the wherewithall to put aside her fear of strangers and find the right people to talk to.  They were more than kind, and moved very quickly to find a solution to this horrific problem.

Then came the most obvious of the many more subtle miracles: 

There were no more flights to Salt Lake City that day.  There were supposed to be no more flights to L.A.  But one was delayed just enough for her to hustle down the halls and board.

And she made it back to me.

The next day we tried again, and though she had been raving about the adventure she had had, she was understandably nervous.  I was too.  I think I asked maybe five different people where her flight was going.  I let Belen take cat naps in her carrier.  I checked several signs and screens.  I was so detail-oriented. 

But we both still had some butterflies as she stepped onto that plane.

Thankfully, an hour and forty minutes later, I got the news she had arrived safe and sound.

Rachel, I'm so glad you came and I'm so sorry to ship you off so badly.  I hope you'll soon gather the courage to come again, and we will do things better!