Thursday, July 10, 2014

Listen to your better half. Always!

My niece had graduated from high school and my sister-in-law (we will call her J) was throwing a party to celebrate this event. My other sister-in-law (we will call her H) came to town as a surprise along with her two sons and I was tasked with picking them up from the airport.

Much earlier in the day, I was deep at work when Jannavi told me several things; she told me to cook, clean, eat, shower, take care of our younger daughter besides going to the airport to pick H and kids up. Then she gave me various details such as the airline (American), time of arrival (10:25), and the gate (8) they would walk out of. She then told me the various dishes she had cooked for dinner. How she and the kids had finished the dinner, how all the various items are on the dining table, how once I am done, she would appreciate if I put them in the fridge, and finally would really consider it a great favor if I cleaned the table and loaded the dishes. By this time I was tired of the monologue and had tuned out!

Big mistake.

I left the house at 9:35PM expecting to arrive in time at Dulles airport as I expected light traffic late at night. As soon as I was close to the terminal I heard from H that she was waiting for me. I looked for gate 8 and did not find it! The last exit gate was #7! I thought she had gone to the upper level (which was meant for departure) and looked for her there and did not find her there. We spent two minutes talking in circles how I was waiting for her and she spent some time explaining where she was that she saw no signs of my car when a blinding thought pierced my brain.

Could I be in the wrong airport?

If you do not pay attention to what your wife says, then definitely the answer to the question is a resounding yes! H's flight had arrived at Reagan airport whereas I was looking for them at Dulles. So I decided to drive to Reagan.

First problem; my gas tank was empty, I had planned on filling it up after picking them up. Now I was not sure I would be able to get to Reagan. So I made a detour to fill up gas. Then I took the connector from Toll Road to I66.

Second problem; there was both an accident and heavy construction as part of the new metro line they are building. So what was a 30 minute trip turned out to be a 90 minute trip. By the time I picked them up at Reagan, it was past midnight and when we pulled into my garage it was well past 1AM in the morning.

Moral - Read the headline; again.

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