My 2009 ended with on a wonderful note – HCFG and I are engaged!!! We are very excited and are looking forward to our future life together.

And a fa la la la la to you too!

Lisa: “You asked me to hide them so they wouldn’t tempt you, remember?”

HCFG is speaking slowly and carefully: “Right, I did. But that was last week. Now I’m requesting a few cookies so will you please bring me a handful?”

Lisa: “No.”

HCFG is shocked: “No?”

Lisa says firmly: “That’s right, no.”

HCFG is increasingly agitated: “What do you mean NO?!”

Lisa: “We agreed you would only eat sweets with lunch. Now it’s bedtime and I’m respecting your request not to give you any cookies at night.”

HCFG sounds pitiful: “But… I want some!”

Lisa is having way too much fun with this: “Them’s the breaks, Cowboy. Life is hard sometimes.”

HCFG changes tactics: “Pleaseeee? I just know my wonderful girlfriend who takes such great care of me wouldn’t mind giving me a few cookies.”

Lisa smirks: “Not happening, sorry.”

HCFG grumbles: “It’s really annoying when you’re being all supportive of my weight loss efforts.”

Lisa: “I hear ya.”

We had to be extra-careful not to forget anything, since we’d be gone for 10 days. Surprisingly, the packing list included even more cold-weather gear than we usually needed in New York. The Pacific Northwest was still reeling from a snowstorm (their worst in 20 years) that had hit five days before. They weren’t equipped to deal with digging out from snow and ice – the county where HCFG’s parents live had only a handful of plow trucks. Although the Seattle airport itself was (barely) open, the roads everywhere were a complete mess.

Anyway, after about two hours of sleep (the car service picked us at 4:00 a.m.) we arrived bleary-eyed at La Guardia, cautiously optimistic that all was well. We were concerned, however, since it had snowed again the night before in Seattle, and because our former nonstop flight had changed into one with a connection through Cleveland.

We boarded the plane and sat on the runway. And sat some more. It ended up being two hours before we took off. HCFG remained relaxed while I sat there with smoke pouring out my ears. Keep in mind we had 55 minutes to make our connection. Cleveland Airport was apparently closed due to fog. I was freaking out, but HCFG stayed calm. He reassured me that the plane we were going to change to would probably be delayed getting into Cleveland by the very same fog, so it wouldn’t leave without us. Not content to leave well enough alone, he then lectured me about how much money the airlines lose when they strand people. You can just imagine how much I loved that conversation. I tapped my foot, gritted my teeth, and became even more stressed. HCFG went to sleep. Men!

Our plane finally took off for Cleveland and it was a smooth flight. The flight attendants couldn’t give us any information about our connection though so we had to ask when we deplaned. The perky agent said our connecting flight was leaving in 10 minutes. We were at Gate 5, our flight was at Gate 22. I thrust my very heavy carry-on bag at HCFG.

Lisa: “I’m going to run for it and see if we can make it. You gonna be ok?”

HCFG: “Go! I’ll be right behind you.”

I ran like OJ Simpson minus the bloody glove through the Cleveland airport. I was wearing a very heavy wool sweater, jeans and snow boots, so even without the carry-ons, I was still pretty out of breath as I reached the area. I got very near the gate and saw they were about to shut the doors.

My adrenaline was going like crazy, I felt like my heart is going to pound out of my chest.

Lisa: “Wait, please, we’re booked on that plane! Don’t leave! We’re here!

I ran up to the agent waving my boarding pass.

Flight Agent says reassuringly: “Don’t worry, you just made it. Is there someone else with you?”

Lisa: “My boyfriend is right behind me. His name is…”

HCFG: “I’m here!” He is weighed down with our carry-on bags, his computer and his heavy down coat.

Flight Agent: “You folks just made it. The pilot held the flight as long as he could waiting for all the connections. We’ve been on the ground for 50 minutes. Most of the other people aren’t going to make it. We are missing over 45 passengers.”

Lisa: “OMG, thank you so much!”

Flight Agent smiled at us both. “You two are lucky; we have to leave in about two minutes.”

We boarded the plane and collapsed in our seats. Only 3 other people got on behind us. Keep in mind about 40 people missed their connection. On Christmas Eve. The good news (for us anyway) is that we got to stretch out with an extra seat between us.

HCFG said smugly, “I told you we’d make it. See you were all worried for nothing.”

Lisa: “Oh please, you were as worried as I was. If either of us stopped for a minute to go to the bathroom like we wanted, we would have been stuck in Cleveland for Christmas.”

HCFG: “Nope, I knew it would all be fine.”

Luckily for HCFG I was too wiped out to tear him limb from limb but I certainly wanted to!

The rest of the flight was smooth and painless. We even made up the time we lost.

Stay tuned for Part 3, meeting the parents after a trip from hell with very little sleep.

(This post originally appeared on Kizmeet)

Lisa: “You know the owners of that furniture aren’t going to be too happy, their stuff is starting to get wet.”

Doorman: “It’s actually all going to be hauled away.”

Lisa: “Why?”

Doorman: “You know that elderly woman in 8F? No? Maybe you didn’t know her, she didn’t come downstairs very much. Well she had to go live in a nursing home and this is all the stuff from her apartment.”

Lisa: “Doesn’t she have children or friends who might want it?”

Doorman in a whisper: “Her son is a jerk, he doesn’t give a shit about her. He said he didn’t want any of her crap, just to throw it all out. He said he didn’t care what we did with it, just get rid of it.”

I felt terribly sad. To think a lifetime of loved and cherished items ended up in the trash heap, and that her son didn’t even care enough about her to go through her things. It was quite poignant watching it rain on her now unwanted items.

I looked outside again and a pine microwave kitchen stand caught my eye. It was well made and in good shape.

Lisa: “Do you think it would be o.k. if I took this? It’s a really nice piece and I have been wanting one for ages.”

Doorman: “Sure, go ahead. It’s just going to the trash otherwise.”

I also rescued a two record album set, “Satchmo at Symphony Hall.”

I put the pine stand in my kitchen and it looks wonderful. It gives me extra storage space and brightens up the room. Although I never knew her, I said a quiet “thank you” and then said a prayer for her. And I will think of her sometimes.

I just hope she never knows what her son said and did.

Because no one deserves that.

Grunts emanate from the enormous tangle of covers on the bed.

“We promised to cook breakfast for our New Year’s Day celebration. You really need to get up now, o.k.?”

More grunts, but the pile of bedding begins to stir.

“Why did we offer to do this?” HCFG mumbles in a tired, put-upon tone.

“We were being good guests, remember?”

“Oh, right. Next time we’ll know better.”

I rolled my eyes for show but I quietly agreed with him.

HCFG reluctantly got out of bed. He groaned horrifically all the while giving me dirty looks. But he soldiered on and left the room. HCFG then paid it forward and went to wake up his son, CFT (aka Cute Fun Teenager). Our exhausted little team went to work while HCFG’s parents watched the Rose Parade and enjoyed their coffee.

HCFG is a fabulous brunch chef. First, he made scrambled eggs with two types of cheese for garnish. He then grilled tomatoes English style, while simultaneously making crispy bacon. I mixed up a batch of cornbread while CFT grated cheese, set the table, and generally made himself useful. The piece de resistance (i.e. dessert) we didn’t actually make. His parents had told us about an amazing Norwegian bakery in the next town. We bought cinnamon sticky buns which made your mouth water just looking at them. Carbohydrate-sugary-cinnamon goodness! Anyway, the whole meal was divine and HCFG’s parents loved it, which made it all worthwhile.

The rest of the day was spent in a relaxed lazy heap. We watched football, read, and were generally too lazy to move off our respective couches, armchairs or pile of pillows. Just the way New Year’s Day should be! Even better, no hangover remedies were required.

Happy New Year, Everyone. Hope 2009 is the best year ever for you and yours!

(This post originally appeared on Kizmeet)

That particular airline has a deal where you can request your travel companion gets upgraded when you do. It’s an all-or-nothing situation, either both of you get upgraded or neither of you do. HCFG told me about this, and then casually mentioned he had asked for us both to be bumped up to First Class on the ride back. I was thrilled!

You can guess what happened next…

He got upgraded and I didn’t.

The *#&^% Bastids!

HCFG received a “congratulations you have been upgraded” text message. Given his suspicious nature, he immediately called the airline and reminded them of his prior request. They said sorry but only he received the upgrade. Adding insult to injury, they added not only could they not upgrade me, but they couldn’t even give him his original seat back as it had already given away to one of the 85 people, (no exaggeration) traveling standby.

I was pissed that we weren’t going to be sitting together. HCFG felt terrible. Being the gracious guy that he is, he offered me his First Class seat. I have to admit I considered it. For a minute anyway, (a very long minute) those free drinks and extra legroom were really tempting! And then I remembered how HCFG spent a large part of the weekend helping my Mother set up her new computer. He transferred all her software, installed programs, showed her shortcuts, and debugged problems.

Sigh.

I bit the bullet and graciously sent him up front to the good seats. I even smiled at him when he brought me his warm nuts from First Class. I decided not to make a fuss because there was nothing we could do about it. Besides I scored MAJOR girlfriend brownie points.

And the best part of all? He’s gonna owe me big for this. For a long time. A VERY long time…

(This post originally appeared on Kizmeet)

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This time, however, he’s not buying it.

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I reach over and sleepily hit the snooze button.

Groans from both sides of the bed.

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