THE SUITCASE

 Somehow I felt there was a sign that this trip to New York City was going to have its bumps.

Aside from what it took to coordinate for all the different days in a four day period, four pairs of shoes, three purses, three outfits, makeup and a substitute for dry eyes, the wedding gift, my Nook and my phone,  missing in action was dental floss, cue tips, and my fancy lipstick.

Sign one happened before we even boarded the plane: a delay of one plus hours because the captain of the flight was also missing in action.

Sign two: Baggage Claim at LaGuardia. Missing in action: only my suitcase. My husband's came down in the first batch. My suitcase was in the last batch. Whew!

Sign three: Which purse and shoes to wear to the rehearsal dinner? Decision: the practical traveler shoes I recently ordered on line and the middle dressy purse after transferring the contents from my tote. A miracle we got to the restaurant. Cab drivers like to know the cross streets and we hadn't a clue.

Sign four: The big wedding day. Eyeliner runs and I have to redo it. Which shoes and purse? I go with the comfortable low heeled sandals I buy earlier in the day instead of the good looking dressy peeky toe shoes that would have been more attractive. I change my tote again, this time to the dressy purse I brought that I wore when my son got married twenty years ago. Good thing I went for comfort. I had to climb a cascade  of stairs at the church on the Upper East Side, board a school bus that took us to the reception in the Dumbo neighborhood of Brooklyn or forty minutes and, of course, dance the horah at the reception.

Sign five: Something to wear that will last through the whole day that includes a breakfast with a relative, a two mile walk to the theatre district to sign some books, a 3:00 theater matinee followed by a cab ride to the Upper East Side to dine with friends. Those traveler shoes made it again and I was very happy to return to my tote bag.

Sign six: When we pack up to return to Denver, the rubber wheel cover on my suitcase falls off as we are departing. It's only recently been repaired. In the lobby, the other rubber wheel cover falls off. I'm praying the suitcase will roll enough to check-in at LaGuardia.

Sign seven: For four hours, we wait at the United gate 46 while the company tries to find the captain, who is delayed in getting to the airport because of the fog. When we finally board, we are sixth in line for takeoff, another half hour before we get in the air. 

Of course, we live in the mountains, and have to shuttle to retrieve our car to drive home. The last leg is another three hours.

Total Travel: 12 hours. Plan is to buy a new suitcase and hopefully a more efficient travel plan for next time.