I'm here (long entry!)

Hi, all, from Jordan! It was an amazing journey - without trouble or toil!

I had a few things to do Tuesday morning before I left for the Denver airport, so I accomplished them (including buying a small package of fresh blueberries to hand carry), and then was picked up by my good friend, who, with my sister, drove me to Denver.

Checking in was a snap, except that I was a couple pounds overweight, so I had to remove a few of the gifts for my niece and nephews. That was disappointing, but I'll just send them with the next person. I was hoping to have my sister and her hubby hide those things until Christ mas or birthdays, so it wasn't too disappointing. They were going to be delayed gratification anyway. My flight from Denver to Chicago was uneventful, but delayed because of rain and thunderstorms over Chicago. No worries, though. I had 2 1/2 hours in Chicago.

I got off the plane and hustled over to the Royal Jordanian Airlines ticket counter. I had to leave security, go to another terminal, then check in with their ticket counter, and go back through security. I got to the Royal Jordanian ticket counter only to discover quite a mob of people standing in line to check-in. The poor RJA employees - all their computers were down - totally down. They were having to call the INS about every passport, hand-write all boarding passes, and check in all luggage by hand. People were impatient, angry, worried about missing their flight. Of course, RJA delayed the whole flight so we could all get on as the problem was theirs. I decided to just be patient and wait quietly. Getting irritable wasn't going to speed up anything!

I got on the plane and was happy to discover that I had no one sitting next to me. I was in a section of just 2 seats, next to the window (planned so I could lean against it and sleep). The empty seat next to me gave me just enough room to stretch out and relax a little more. I kept looking out the window as we left the midwest and was witness to an amazing lightening storm in the distance. It went on and on. The view from 30,000 feet was spectacular, lighting up the clouds and affording quite a show of nature's power and beauty. I was glad we were heading away from that lightening, but was very glad to have scene it!

I had a nice meal, read for a little while, took my OTC sleeping pill, unpacked my amazing compressible/expandable camping pillow (a gift from Tim), and actually got about 7 hours of sleep (interrupted and restless, but 7 hours nonetheless). I woke up to bright sunshine and read for an hour or so while waiting on breakfast. Despite the delayed flight out of Chicago, I arrived only about 1/2 hour late. There were my bags (unmolested), and there were my sister, her husband and their 3 beautiful kids waiting for me!! Wondrous! Oh, my heart leapt in my chest!

We drove to their home (quite expansive and lovely!), I took off my shoes, and we all just relaxed. It was soon time for the kids to go to bed, so we brushed their teeth, got them ready and tucked them in. Sister and I could not, of course, resist staying up just a little too late talking, but she wasn't up too long.

It was only about noon my time, so I unpacked, discovered I was VERY HUNGRY (it had been about 8 hours since "breakfast" on the airplane), had a snack (translate foraged in their refrigerator in the dark), read for a little while, took another OTC sleeping pill, and went to bed, hoping to get right on track and beat jet lag. I unpacked not only my clothes (of which I brought very few), but the many gifts I brought from myself and other family. I must say I felt just like Santa Claus! I couldn't wait until this morning to give some of the gifts away. :-)

I'll sign off for now! I'm here, happy and content to just BE with these lovelies.