The Downside of Being a Finalist

Unfortunately, the excitement being in and possibly winning a writing contest comes with some disappointment. My cousin Pedro and his wife, Glenda and their two boys are here in the US from Ecuador visiting my father, who lives in South Carolina.

Before I was even contacted about winning the contest or knew the ceremony date, I made airline reservations for Ian and myself to fly to South Carolina this weekend to visit with my cousins. We had figured out a plan for buying the tickets and I was excited to see my cousins, whom I haven't seen since 2001 and probably will not see for a few more years.

As luck would have it, my flight coincided with the contest ceremony and I hoped that I could change my flight and do both. After several calls to the airlines and online ticketing agency-all of whom were very nice and patient- it would have cost me over $2000 to change my fare for just a three-day trip. On top of that, many of the flights had several layovers all over the country (one flew to Atlanta, then to NYC and then back to SC-?) and so taking Ian on a 12 or 14 hour plane trip would be not be considered. Flying on standby would reduce the fee to about $400 but there were no available seats on the return flight home.

So, this morning with my stepmom, I made the executive decision not to go and visit my cousins. I talked with them on the phone (wow-my Spanish was rusty, on top of that I was so disappointed and tired from surfing the web for fares for a gazillion hours, I couldn't think in English, let alone Spanish) and they invited us to visit in Ecuador when we can in the future. I don't know when that will be, but I miss them all so much and there must be a reason why things work out in this way.

I'll change my flight to another time and take Ian to see my father in the near future. It feels a little bittersweet today. Tom and I talked at lunch and he said if it were him, he would be really bummed out too.

But, I promised myself not to dwell after this morning. Thankfully, amidst all of the changing flight dilemma, I had a yoga class last night. I almost didn't go so I could stay home and agonize over flights some more.

I went to yoga and had one of the best classes. I learned two very difficult poses (Hilary-you would be proud of me!) and the meditation helped me feel better. Probably the best choice I made all day was to just go and quit being a baby about it.

On the upside of today-I added my second special education class today into my schedule. There is one child who is verbal, the rest are not and two in wheelchairs. Only five children, but they were so much fun to work with. We played some drums and sandblocks, a few kids enjoyed some dancing and we added some scarves for sensory input-which was a big hit and also some bubbles during classical music. They are wonderful. I got some eye contact and a few laughs too. One student is blind and very sensitive to touch and he wasn't quite ready to try a lot with me. He did shake my hand for one song and he rocked when the music was on or when I was singing. So, he was responding.

Anyway, I miss my cousins and I hope their stay in the US is terrific. I wonder if this vacation win could be used in Ecuador.......

P/S: Hop over to see about our Star Wars Sunday at Tom's blog!