What Goes Around Comes Around
Well, that was a ride — our very own version of Planes, Trains, and Automobiles.
Somehow we came full circle, while at the same time ending up 1700 miles from home with a story we won’t soon forget.
It all started at 8am yesterday when Kristian was recognized at an award’s ceremony at his school for winning first place in an essay contest about veteran appreciation which included a check for $300!
A few hours later I was back at the school picking the kids up early to run to the airport so we could fly to Boston so Kristian could make an interview the following day at 8am — 24 hours from the start of this tale — at Phillips Exeter Academy in New Hampshire, one of the schools he’s interested in attending next year.
We got to the airport and flew through security, arriving at the gate just as boarding was supposed to start.
Nine hours later, we were still there, in Key West — with a broken plane abandoned on the runway and a vague promise that another was one the way.
As the hours dragged on I started to realize that we wouldn’t get to Boston in time for the interview because we had a stopover in Newark — so I would need to start getting creative with an alternate travel plan.
If we arrived in Newark after midnight the earliest flight to Boston wasn’t until 7am which would be too late. So, the best I could do was get a 5am flight out of JFK (across NYC) which would get us into Boston at 6am, so we could barely get to Exeter for 8am. But even with that flight in place, there were still a lot of gaps to fill and faith to hold on to.
We ended up flying out of Key West at 9:30pm and got into Newark at close to 1am. Upon arrival, I soon realized we wouldn’t have our one checked bag which had all of our “nice” clothes for the interview. So with no bag, no plan on how we were getting across the city at 2am, and with the kids wearing shorts in 30 degree weather, we left the confines of the airport into the great unknown.
I actually had no idea what was next.
There was evidence of a shuttle between the airports, but I couldn’t book online at that hour, so I was trying to maybe just stumble upon it.
At this point we must have looked frantic — and freezing. None of us had slept or eaten and we were walking outside in the winter with backpacks, shorts, and no coats.
As we walked out of the airport aimlessly and out of sorts, a man stopped me to ask where we were headed. He had a kind smile, and we needed a miracle, so I said we had to get to JFK, to which he responded, “my wife isn’t going to be happy that I’m out driving that far this late, but get in — it’ll take us around an hour”. He was obviously not a licensed operator, so we were basically hitchhiking at that point — and trusting a man named Tony Nelson who we had just met.
But trusting him turned out to be our best move of the whole trip.
Tony was pretty much the coolest guy we’ve ever met. An Army vet, a cancer survivor, a grandfather — he knew all about Phillips Exeter and offered Kristian advice and encouragement for the interview. During the ride, he noticed Naia had a cold and stopped to buy her warm chamomile tea, and as we pulled up to the departures drop off, he told Kristian to keep in touch and that if he got into Exeter, he’d drive up and watch him play ball.
We walked away with a few photos, a new friend, and a story we won’t soon forget.
Safely at JFK, we hopped on the next flight and arrived in Boston at 6am — offering just enough time to stop at my mom’s house to shower, grab a coffee and scrape together a “nice” outfit for the interview which was basically old clothes that I had left at her house over the years.
By the time we hopped in the car, it was 7:07am and the drive to Exeter was 52 minutes, offering us one whole minute of cushion.
But we made it to our destination — a full 24 hours later. The campus was amazing and Kristian had a great story to tell the admissions officer — after winning an essay contest about veteran appreciation, his day was saved by the good graces of an Army veteran.
What goes around comes around, folks…