Christine in America

Surprise!  That's what happened to my parents when I visited the U.S. last week for a work conference.  I flew over early and landed at Dulles Airport, Virginia on Thursday, June 2, 2011.  Steve met me at the airport.  I always wanted someone to be waiting for me when I got off a plane.  Usually I fly for work and I just take a taxi home, so no one's ever there.  Or for ski trips, Michelle or Marcie pick me up, but wait outside.

My sister's and I decided not to tell my parents.  On Saturday, I drove up to Pittsburgh with Marcie.  My mom brought my favorite niece outside to say hello to Marcie and screamed--she was that excited.  Joe, the favorite brother in law, told my dad that Marcie needed his help with her stuff.  My dad came to the living room as I went into the front door.  He too, was shocked.  On Sunday, my lovely niece was baptized.  She cried a bit.  Her favorite part was the water over her head-go figure.  After the church service, we drove to Colleen's house for the party.  (Great food there.)

Then it was back to the DC area for the conference Monday-Thursday.  (Work is serious, we went until 9pm on Tuesday and 8pm on Wednesday.)  Thursday, June 9, 2011, I flew back to Germany.  Well, I tried.  There were thunderstorms at Dulles Airport, so the flight was delayed over 2 hours, until 12:30am.   I fell asleep almost as soon as I sat down.  I even skipped the dinner United served.  (And I never miss food/meals.)  We circled the airport at Frankfurt, Germany for a bit once we arrived here.  I missed my connection to Stuttgart.  Luftansa was nice enough to rebook me.  However, I somehow managed to leave the secure part of the airport, had to get a new ticket and then hit security all over again.  It's a short flight- 35 minutes and I did manage to make it to Stuttgart.  

Christine