That way I could drive my mother down to the Columbus airport and hop on one myself at the same time, saving gas and driving. We were both going to start out on the same plane going to JFK and then she would go on to Boston. We were going to sit next to each other and I would be able to help her even though she also had a wheelchair escort waiting for her. So when we got a ton of snow, about a foot of snow, on Weds., the day before we were supposed to leave I was optimistic and hoped the roads would be cleared by the next day. I had some neighbor boys shovel my drive-way Weds. afternoon and asked if they could come back the next day (if school was also canceled because of the weather) to carry our luggage out to the rental car. Although school was delayed two hours I didn't get the rental car until around noon so I figured the boys were gone to school. I had a taxi take me to the local Avis rental office and that was a story in itself. The taxi driver (who was also the owner of the company, or so he said) was interested in me, to put it lightly. I mean, he came right out and said that he would be glad to have sex with me. I'm thinking, yuck, is he really being that blunt with a stranger! Not to mention he was smoking and was ugly and talked like an illiterate. Buuuut, I thought, hmmmm, maybe if I played my cards right I might be able to get him to come back after a while to put the suitcases into the rental for me. So while I didn't lead him on, I also didn't tell him my real feelings. I asked if he could possibly do it for me & he was only too happy and said he would be over in about 45 minutes. I was a little worried about having him come into the house but I didn't see any other way except for my trying to carry them out myself. I figured I could roll them to the front door, carry my computer chair outside and then using a piece of wood I keep in my trunk I would slide them down to my chair with wheels. I would steer the chair to the rental car. Then I was going to slide them into the back seat of the rental car using the wood again. But I didn't know how well that would work. So the taxi driver seemed like a tolerable choice. Luckily when I got home the older boy from the snow shoveling the day before was at my home. He said he had a sore throat and had stayed home from school. So I called the taxi dude up and told him thanks but I had someone else to do it. This was all on Thursday at around 1 in the afternoon. We still thought we were going to leave in about a half hour.

Our original flight was supposed to be on Thursday at 6:20 and the drive to the Columbus airport was a little under 2 hours according to Map Quest. We knew that the flight might get canceled and kept checking out the web site and it kept saying that our flight was going and on time so my mother and I were just about ready to get into the car when I checked one last time before we walked out the door. Guess what? Now it was canceled, not just delayed, canceled. I had mixed feelings since I hate driving on bad roads but I also hated not getting to leave that day. I worried about the rental car going over the 24 hour limit. I spent the next hour and a half on the phone, mostly on hold, talking to Jet Blue people and they managed to get both of us on a plane together again. It was at an earlier time and since I had been getting up earlier and earlier for two weeks to get adjusted for the trip and I already had the car packed up, we were able to leave early. The Avis guy gave me a couple of extra hours with the rental car so we wouldn't have to pay for another day.

The bad part came in after we landed and JFK was wild. There were still backlogged people from the day before and the place was very crowded. They couldn't find a wheelchair for my mom or the other lady on our flight that needed one and then when they did they plopped her down in the nearest seating area and took the wheelchair away. Meanwhile our steward from the plane took it upon himself to track down our luggage and then called me on my cell phone to let me know he found it. We had an extra problem. My mom's luggage was taken off the plane and had to be claimed and then reloaded but we weren't sure that was going to happen because the Jet Blue people were going to try to keep it on the plane for her. That all had to do with the way they had to book us for our flights so we could take the same flight. She was in effect taking two different flights according to their computers. So they had put her at the seating area for her connecting flight to Boston, but since her luggage had to be claimed she had to get back into another wheelchair to go claim it and reload it. By the time we finally got another wheelchair and the lady took us to the pick-up area I had little hope of finding the steward, but there he was just walking away so I caught him and he took us straight to our suitcases. So then we had to find Louis, or I should say he needed to find us. He finally got around to where we were and he pushed our luggage cart while someone else pushed my mother and we ended up in a food court of sorts. We had to feed her and get her on her plane to Boston. The bad thing was her flight had been delayed and the good thing was her flight had been delayed. LOL. So, we had plenty of time. We got her a turkey sandwich, some honeydew melon and a cup of Dunkin Donuts coffee that she loves. We got her to her security area and then Louis and I went off to his car.

This was all very strange. I mean, first of all going to a city so far away from home to meet a man I knew so little about. I had jokingly told a few people that for all I knew he had handcuffs in his basement and was luring women to his home so he could keep them in his basement for torture and amusement. I had told someone else that if they didn't hear from me to send the Marines, and then I said, oh, that won't work, he was a Marine! In Vietnam. That's another story. So we rode on the Air bus the long ride to his area of the parking lot. After meeting him and spending time with him while we were hanging out with my mother I felt very comfortable with him and had no misgivings about going to his home. He had offered to put me up in a hotel but me being so reluctant to waste money I told him I would be fine in his guest room. He is a good driver which I was relieved to see since that's important to me.

When we got to his place he gave me a tour of his home, including the basement, which is where the guest bedroom is, no kidding. As we were getting ready to go down the steps I noticed that the door to the basement had a lock on it, from the outside. I was a bit uneasy about that but I had no gut feeling or any feeling of anything harmful about to happen so I went down. Down the steep stairs that opened to a big normal basement room. I was thinking, hmmm, where is the guest room, or maybe, where are the manacles, but he turned to the left, switched on a light and there was a beautiful new guest room with an adjoining bathroom. And I didn't see a lock on the door, at least not on the outside. I didn't even look to see if there was one on the inside.

I won't get too much into the part of the trip that concerns him and me. We have many shared interests and beliefs and get along well. Instead, I'll just list the things we did with brief stories.

Friday Feb. 16th: *Arrived at his home around 10 pm or so. We had some tea and I gave him some CDs I made for him and we danced to some of that music in his kitchen. Maybe the best part of the whole trip!

Saturday Feb. 17th: *Got up early and ate breakfast of French toast (I had brought some of my own wheat free bread, luckily) We got on the subway which is about 6 blocks from his house. We went to where the Staten Island Ferry leaves for the round trip. It was a bit chilly but we were both bundled up. My face got red from all the wind. It was a smooth ride and we went out to the deck and I got lots of pictures. I got to see the Statue of Liberty, Ellis Island and a view of the distant tall buildings.

*We took the subway to the city and went to an old restaurant called Juniors. There were pictures up all over of various people who had been there, including Bill Clinton shaking hands and hanging out with the patrons. A family sitting next to us had two little children and they were going to take them sledding after lunch.
<-- Art on the walls as you leave the subway. -->

*Two of Louis' friends came over that evening to meet me and have dinner together. Eric and Nina. Nina is from Georgia, and not the state, the country. She is very interesting and I could spend hours talking to her. She went thru a lot both in her homeland and then to get here and to adjust to being in the USA. After dinner at a Mexican restaurant down the street from Louis' they came back to his house and we all danced to the music I had brought along. That was really fun. Eric is a cab driver and Nina takes care of elderly people in their homes.

Sunday Feb. 18th:
*We got up early and got ready to go to his UU (Unitarian Universalist - like me) church. He was to sign the membership book since he missed the ceremony last week. They had some sword dancers in another room afterwards. It was high school age kids and they were amazing.
*We walked to a restaurant near the church. It was an interesting place with some really unusual art pieces on the walls. You could buy them. One looked like the "Last Supper" but with women dressed up fancy. Two were of pretty naked men with flower petals covering them. Funny.
*Then we had to hurry off to go to the Broadway show he had bought tickets for, "My Mother is Jewish, My Father is Italian and I'm Therapy" which was pretty funny. He had the most perfect seats, about six rows back from the stage and exactly in the center. That was nice of him and very expensive.
*Supper, at his house, some steaks.

Monday Feb. 19th:
*Presidents Day. We went to a local grocery store. Before we went he asked if I minded going to a grocery store where I would probably be the only white person there. I figured it would be fine or he wouldn't be taking me there. No one stared at me except for a little girl when we were in the check-out line. We got groceries for the rest of our dinners. We also went to a Korean restaurant that had nice fruit and veggies.

*I went with him for his long daily afternoon walk with his doggie, Jackie. The park was still icy and snowy but Jackie didn't mind. She’s a good dog. We were there about an hour and 20 minutes. *We went to the Brooklyn Bridge, taking the subway to get near it and then walking to the entrance.

This is a good place to start a new page. I don't want it to take forever to load. You can click on the little picture of the bridge to take you to the next page.