![\"\"](\"https:\/\/girland4families.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/DinoChicago.jpg\")
<\/p>\n\n\n\nThis memory I wrote is pretty recent. Just last year while on my way to Minnesota for Jason’s Minnesota Celebration of life. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
On January 19th<\/sup>, 2024 ,what was supposed to be a simple flight turned into a three-hour ordeal that left me stranded in Chicago, miles away from everyone I loved.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The first delay was only thirty minutes. No big deal,<\/em> I thought. I have time for dinner. Maybe a deep-dish pizza.<\/em> My stomach growled at the thought, and the smell of garlic and melted cheese drifting from a nearby pizzeria didn’t help. I ordered a large margarita pizza with big ripe cherry tomatoes and basil sprinkled on top. I promised myself I would try to save some for the plane ride to Minnesota, I ended up eating the entire thing with no regrets as I waited.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Then came more alerts. My phone buzzed like a relentless mosquito. Phillip called after I texted him an alert that would have me landing in Minneapolis after midnight.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cAre you okay?\u201d he asked. \u201cLove you too.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Later, Jon’s wife Angel called.\u201cAre you okay?\u201d Angel’s sweet southern voice did set my mind at ease a little. \u201cHope to see you then.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Their voices helped, but the loneliness lingered. I opened Find My Friends and stared at the map. Tim, Emily, Chad, Jeremy were the closest to me, yet still over 300 miles away. Phillip was even farther, and I knew he’ would be asleep soon. Who else could I talk to? I didn’t feel like striking up a conversation with a stranger. I was tired, frustrated, and alone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n That was when I found the dinosaur. A towering skeleton from the Field Museum display stood in prehistoric patience as I paced the terminal. I started talking to him, griping about the delays, confessing how tempted I was to rent a car and drive, admitting I wasn’t in the right frame of mind to do it safely. The dinosaur didn’t judge. He didn’t answer. But in that moment, he was the best friend I had.<\/p>\n\n\n\n After finishing my one-way conversation with the dinosaur, I walked back to the gate. My phone finally buzzed with a definite landing time: 11:40 p.m. That meant I’d land in Minneapolis at 12:55 a.m. I texted Tim and hoped he could still pick me up. If not, I’d take an Uber.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I plopped down in a seat by the gate and almost drifted off, only to be jolted awake by the boarding announcement. Grabbing my suitcase, I wasn’t sure if I’d ever want to fly alone again. But then I thought about the dinosaur and how our silent conversation had eased my mind. Maybe I could fly solo again, as long as there was a dino in the airport.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" This memory I wrote is pretty recent. Just last year while on my way to Minnesota for Jason’s Minnesota Celebration of life. On January 19th, 2024 ,what was supposed to be a simple flight turned into a three-hour ordeal that left me stranded in Chicago, … <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_vp_format_video_url":"","_vp_image_focal_point":[],"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-455","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/girland4families.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/455","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/girland4families.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/girland4families.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/girland4families.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/girland4families.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=455"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/girland4families.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/455\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":457,"href":"https:\/\/girland4families.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/455\/revisions\/457"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/girland4families.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=455"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/girland4families.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=455"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/girland4families.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=455"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
I forced calm into my voice. \u201cI’ll be fine. I might grab a drink before the bar closes. Or maybe I’ll rent a car and drive.\u201d
\u201cDana, don’t you dare,\u201d he said firmly It’s dark, you’re upset, and you’ ll never make it to Tim and Emily’s like that. Stay put, okay?\u201d
I sighed , knowing he was right, \u201cOkay. I love you.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI’m okay. Just keep walking the airport and waiting.\u201d
\u201cCan they reschedule your flight?\u201d
\u201cThe flight’s still coming, just delay after delay. All I can do is wait\u201d
\u201cKeep waiting and take care. Jon and I are driving so we hope to see you tomorrow afternoon.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n