Still in Albany

I arrived in Albany, NY on Thursday, and I'm still here. I was supposed to fly home yesterday and be at the house in time for bedtime stories, but there was a hitch in the proceedings. The hitch was my writing my flight time down wrong and showing up at the aiport 15 minutes too late to catch my flight. Unfortunately, it was the last flight for the day that could get me to Austin. So now I have a 1:00 flight today, with a FOUR-HOUR layover at JFK. I figure it's the price I have to pay for rampant stupidity on my part. The guy at the Delta counter gave me a number I can call later today to see if any other flights are available - ones that don't involve four hours at JFK. I either need a very short layover at JFK or one that's long enough to give me time to get into the city for a few hours.

When I called B to tell him what had happened, he laughed and called me a dumbass. There was nothing I could say in defense. I had been a dumbass.

This trip has been a difficult one, in a lot of ways, and I don't think I'm ready to write about that part of yet.

However, being here has cured me of my desire to live in the north, at least in the winter. I forgot about the ugly part of winter - the slush on the ground, the mountains of black snow piled in corners of parking lots, the drizzly days where it's not cold enough to snow and make everything pretty and white. In Austin, we rarely have days where the weather sticks in the 30s, but here, I don't think it's gotten out of the 30s the whole time. Brr.

I rarely wear socks, usually only when I run. I didn't pack any socks for the trip, and my feet have been frozen the whole time I've been here. At my grandparents' house I sat with my feet on the hearth letting the fire warm them up.

I look forward to getting home. I miss my husband and my kids and my own bed. I'm also out of clean clothes.