Thursday, November 06, 2008

Cooper's Preference

We have just returned from a two and a half week trip to the US to visit our closest friends and family. It was busy, intense, enjoyable, and full of memory moments. One of the funniest occurred during our 7 hour delay at JFK airport:

After the 4th announcement that our flight would again be delayed Sarah and I decided it would be worth it to rent a car and simply drive down to our destination (Maryland) instead of facing longer indefinite delays. At about 11pm we took an airport train to the terminal where the car rental places were. We were tired, our kids were tired, and we were all struggling with rolling grumpiness.

When we got to the car rental area we found that we were not the only ones with the idea of renting a car in the face of everlasting delays. Without an existing reservation there were no cars available to be rented anywhere.

Defeated, resigned, and with simmering frustration we got back on the airport train to go back to our gate and wait for the delays to finally be over.

Up to that moment neither of our children had been doing things that I would say bring me joy as a parent. But then, in that dark hour (literally) Cooper chirped up and announced, “I like this train. It smells like french fries!”

He was absolutely right. Somewhere on that train was someone with a fresh, piping bag of McDonalds food.

Sarah and I experienced our first smile in a few hours, and agreed, “Yes, Cooper, this train does smell like french fries.”

3 comments:

Amy said...

It was so much fun to have you visit. I wish it was possible to do it more often! Great to see you and let our kids play. Miss you much already!

Elaine Pettit said...

Hey sound like you guys had quite a trip....too bad we don't live in Utah we would've meet up. Take care Elaine

Grandpa Campbell said...

We're still talking about your visit and the choice opportunity to have everyone here in Maryland at the same time. Was it busy? Yes it was. Hectic at moments? Sometimes... But was it enjoyable? No question about it!! We still look at the pictures at least weekly and fondly ruminate on the many precious moments.