Good morning! Come on in and grab a coffee or a tea, I have lots to tell you.

I would first apologize for a quick cough now and then. My cough is a lot better this week though at times, I still get an itch in my throat which I cannot scratch. It is why I am going with a simple cup of green tea this morning. I’d usually go with coffee but mom said coffee makes a cough worse. I don’t know if I agree with her assessment but best to listen before she says, “I told you so.”

It’s been a long week, the longest in a long time. I worked almost 46 hours. The website at work – the new website that was implemented over a year ago – quit working the day I left on my vacation. So my colleague who was filling in ended up doing very little of my work.

So I am now quite far behind at work, not where I want to be after vacation.

The longest day of the week was Sunday. Mom woke me up at 4 AM. Our plane was at 7:24 AM, and airport was across the street from the hotel. It was about 5:15 AM after getting through TSA and a tiny breakfast of a small coffee and crispy crepes bought at an Asian grocery store. I could barely eat as I was battling with yet another inflammation in my gums, even sipping water hurt.

I wanted to sleep on the plane from Buffalo to Denver. After all, it was almost a 4-hour plane ride. Mom had other plans. She was awake and bored. So each time I closed my eyes and felt myself drifting off, she would shake me awake. “What is it?” I’d ask, pulling my earbuds out of my ears.

She tapped my watch. “What time is it? How much longer?”

This went on throughout the flight and as we were about to descend into Denver, she asked for my phone. It turned out she wanted to rummage through my photos. Thank goodness I don’t have any incriminating photos on my phone.

Our plane from Buffalo landed an hour early at Denver International, which added an hour to our layover from 4 hours to 5 hours. I spent about 45 minutes exploring the building and finding an affordable place to have some breakfast, which turned out to McDonalds. Despite my entire mouth was in pain, I was hungry. So I powered through the pain and tried to get some food in my stomach.

Our plane to Salt Lake City was late. It didn’t arrive until boarding time and with deplaning and cleaning, our boarding was delayed by 30 minutes. When boarding finally began, the sign at the gate suddenly changed to Detroit. Everyone, including us, stopped and stared, jaws dropped. “This is going to Salt Lake City, right?” Someone asked the ticket agent at the gate. The ticket agent assured everyone that the plane was indeed heading for Salt Lake City.

I instantly felt relieved but that relief was short-lived. Shortly after I sat down on the plane, I noticed mom was not behind me. Where is she?

That’s when my phone rang. Mom was being detained at the gate because her duffel with wheels didn’t classify as a personal item. It was classified as a carryon and she must pay the carryon fee in order to board. “Get off the plane and help me!” She screamed into the phone.

The flight attendants stopped me from exiting. “But I must go help my mother,” I told them. “She’s stuck at the gate.”

“Is she in a wheelchair?”

“No,” I answered.

“Then she can handle herself.” I stood there for a second. You haven’t met my mother, have you? I wanted to say. “If you leave, you will need to scan your boarding pass to get back on.”

Whatever! I darted back to the gate where my mom was shouting about the ridiculousness of being charged for her bag which clearly fit into the small personal item category. “They want me to pay on the app.” She shoved her phone at me.

After a moment, a customer representative showed up and asked mom to hand over her phone so she could add the carryon bag to her boarding pass. My fear had come true. Before we left on the trip, I was worried this would happen on one of the legs of the trip, that mom’s bag would be classified as a carryon. I warned her, too, but as always, she didn’t listen.

She ended up paying a hefty sum to get her bag on the plane and complained throughout the remainder of the ride, causing me yet another chance to get some shut-eye. We finally deplaned in Salt Lake City 2 hours after the scheduled arrival and all I wanted to do was to get home, shower, and get in bed.

Mom had other ideas, though. We headed for my aunt’s house, where upon seeing us, my uncle complained about work and how he wanted to quit because he didn’t like other people talking to him, asking him questions and such. Mom cut the dinner short and we headed home, where I fell asleep less than an hour later.

At the end of the day, I’m just glad I’m home and finally getting a quiet good night rest – the kind I couldn’t get while traveling with mom.

#weekendcoffeeshare is hosted by Natalie of Natalie the Explorer. I appreciate you stopping by and hope to chat again same time next week.