The Big D

It has been a long time since I have written a post.  I feel like a bear, a blue and orange bear, who went into hibernation for the winter.   Now that it springtime, I am venturing back into the world.  I think Mr. Guy and The Lady have been hibernating at school!  They always seem to be busy.

Last weekend, The Lady had to be in Chicago for a meeting.  Mr. Guy went along and he said that I could go too.  Yay!  It has been a long time since I have been on a trip.  When The Captain was sick, we went on trips a lot.  Now we don’t go as much.  Sometimes I miss it and sometimes I don’t.  Anyway, I was excited to get to go this time.  I thought Mr. Guy and I would have a great time doing stuff while The Lady was stuck in her meeting.  The weekend didn’t go quite as I had hoped.  I learned another one of those “life lessons” as Mr. Guy calls them.  I learned about disappointment.

Big D is not for Dallas, where we live.  It is for Big Disappointment.

Out flight was very early.  We got up at 2:30 am to be at the airport at 4.  Well, Mr. Guy and The Lady got up.  Not me.  They just scooped me out of my bed half awake to leavet.  I didn’t really wake up until it was time to go through security and Mr. Guy had to send me, all by myself, through that dark tunnel where those TSA guys take pictures of my insides.  I have had to do that lots of times, but it is still scary for a little blue and orange monster!  They saw that my insides were empty!  I had had no breakfast.  Mr. Guy said that we would have breakfast on the plane but he would get us some coffee to share while we waited in the airport.

Disappointment #1

At 4am, nothing is open in the Dallas airport.  Not even Starbucks!!  

Mr. Guy and I had to wait until we got on the plane for our coffee.  This made for two grouchy monsters!  Mr. Guy and I grumbled together in our chair until it was time to get on the airplane.  The Lady ignored us both.  She knows that is the best thing to do when we have been awake, well sort of awake, for over an hour and have not had any coffee.  Fortunately, we were not in gym class with the coaches on this flight, we were in the first grade class.  In first grade, you get coffee before the airplane leaves the ground.  Phew!  Mr. Guy and I were happy about that.

I was so not awake when we left my house, that I forgot to put a shirt on.  I was a little embarrassed, but Mr. Guy held me tight so no one would stare at my orange belly fur and he told me that we had some time when we landed in Chicago before we had to head to our hotel; we would find a Chicago shirt for me in the airport.

Disappointment #2

Mr. Guy and The Lady walked all over the terminal, into every store they saw, trying to find a new shirt for me.  There were no shirts sized for little blue and orange monsters anywhere.  This seemed strange to me.  I have gotten lots of my shirts in airport shops.  Oh well, we still had Saturday to find a new shirt somewhere.

Disappointment #3

As it turned out, we did not get to see anything the whole time that we were in Chicago except our hotel.  

The Lady was busy with her meeting, and Mr. Guy found out that he was being given a whole bunch of extra work at school so he had to stay in the hotel room and work, work, work all day long!!  I was sad that I wouldn’t get to see any new places, but I was happy to get to spend the whole day with Mr. Guy.  We got to have breakfast and lunch together and I got to help him make some videos for his monsters at school.  

The day could have been better, but it also could have been worse.  Mr. Guy explained to me that there are times when things don’t go like you want or hope they will.  He told me I just had to look for something positive.  He said that if you look for stuff to make you unhappy, you can always find it.  But, if you look for something to make you happy, you can always find that too.  

I was happy that I got to go with The Lady and Mr. Guy.  I was happy that Mr. Guy and I shared lots of coffee and breakfast and lunch.  And, I was happy that Mr. Guy and The Lady told me that when we went back to the airport to fly home, we could try again to find a new shirt for me.  Oh, and I was happy that I got to nap and watch HGTV while Mr. Guy worked!  

At least I got to look at pictures of Chicago in a book.

Disappointment #4

Still no shirt to be found at the airport.

While we tried again to fins a shirt for me, Mr. Guy found a coloring book for himself and The Lady got a bracelet.  It made me smile that we found something for them. They also got a nice blue bag that I got to ride in.  

I learned that I am just as happy when I help to find a nice surprise for other people as I am when they find them for me!  

While we were waiting for our flight, I saw this strange toy hanging on the wall.  I asked The Lady if we could go play with it.  She said that it was not a toy; it was a pay phone.  

Hmmm…it didn’t look like any phone I had ever seen.  Why did someone hang their phone on the wall?  Silly question.  Because that phone was too big to put in their pocket.  And, it had too many cords and buttons and couldn't even take pictures!  It looked like some kind of science fiction thing to me!  That was the newest thing, at least to me, that I saw all weekend!!

Then it was time to get on the plane and come home.

Even though I tried to smile and be a big blue and orange furry monster, The Lady knew that I was disappointed.  To make me feel better, she told me that during the month of May, she would include me in all of her daily photos.  That means that we will get to do something fun every single day!    The Lady said that we can post her photos to my blog every day too.  Now I am one happy and excited little monster!  I will have to spend all month brushing my fur so that I look my very best.  Oh, and she said that maybe there will be a new shirt somewhere along the way!