eClaire and I made it home safe and sound. Hubby and BC caught us by surprise and met us inside the airport. What it was great to see him!
We are now at home, fed, and tired. 
BC is out of sorts. I’m not sure if he’s just being two or three. I have heard from some that three is worse than two.… or if he is just out of whack due to me being gone for a few days.
Anyway, it’s nice to be with my family again.
Yesterday my family and I went to Sadie’s funeral. The grave side service started at 10:30 a.m. and lasted for about an hour. It was pretty cool. I’ve only been to a few other funerals, mostly memorials, and no grave side services since becoming an adult. Yesterday was mixed with intense sadness and lots of laughter. Sadie was full of spunk. She was the type of person who never sat still. She loved creating thing and being involved in her boys’ lives. She was your typical redhead. When I say redhead, I mean RED.
Sadie’s family brought colored Sharpie markers to the grave site and had us write messages on her casket before the service started. By the time our family got through with her casket, it was covered with messages, stickers, and love.
I don’t think we could have asked for a better way to say goodbye to her.
There are two funds set up for Sadie’s three boys. There is for a fund set up through her son’s school. If you are interested in donating, the information is below.
Fund set up by the Cole Canyon [Elementary School] Parent Teacher Club
Finney Children Assistance Fund
c/o Bank of America
23781 Washington Ave.
Murrieta, CA 92562
Last night I was scheduled to fly into San Diego for my cousin’s funeral. eClaire and I got to the airport about an hour and a half early and went through the security checkpoint relatively quickly. I was cleared and didn’t appear to be a terrorist or caring any poisons, guns, or knives…well actually I did have a knife, my Mini Letherman tool.-oops!
Before I left home I, of course, remembered to take a small tube of Monistat topical cream out of my purse, but left the knife. Nice!
We headed down to Gate 16 and waited for our 7:30 flight to board. While eClaire was climbing all over the airport chairs, a nice looking man in his 50’s came up and asked if this was the flight bound for San Diego.
SM: “Yes, it leaves at 7:30.” I said with a smile.
Crazy: “Oh, good. I have a 9:55 flight and I’m trying to get out of here earlier.” He said with a slight slur, as if he’d had a stroke.
Now I’ve always been the one to befriend the ‘odd’ kid or stick up for the underdog. Today was no different. “Oh, this man’s had a stroke, I’ll be nice,” I thought as I smiled and he walked away.
Five minutes later he came back and asked if he could chat with us. “Of course!”
Crazy: “Your daughter is so beautiful, what’s her name?”
Warning, Danger, Warning! My hackles went up!! Why did I feel this way? I’m not sure, but I did. So I turned to eClaire and said, “Can you say hi?” Of course, eClaire has a great way of staring down anyone whom she doesn’t absolutely love with her whole heart, so he gave the man a look saying something to the effect of, “Ya, I can say hi. But you are certainly not worthy of it.”
Crazy: “I was never blessed with children, and this is tough for me.” Crying, he walked away.
YES I SAID CRYING!!!
OK, now I felt very uncomfortable. I needed a distraction. Since I wasn’t sure how eClaire would do on the plane, scheduled to take off 30 minutes after her usual bedtime, I got up and took her-OK, really me– to get a pizza. On the way, I stopped by the bathroom.
What can I say? When I get nervous, I pee. A lot.
We left the bathroom, and began my lengthy walk to California Pizza Kitchen. Immediately, I heard someone behind me, but ignored it. He kept talking and I realized he was talking to me. Crazy was behind me. He’d followed me to the bathroom!
At this point I was high-tailing it through the terminal. Since I don’t run, I was walking as fast as I could to safety. I got to CPK and looked around. There he was, talking to another person. Phew!
I ordered a peperoni pizza and handed my credit card to the lady behind the counter. Suddenly, out of nowhere a hand with cash appeared. Crazy was trying to pay for my meal. Uh, no!!
SM (not smiling, by the way): “No, I’m paying for my own pizza.”
Crazy: “No, take the money.”
SM (stomach in a knot): “NO, I’m paying for my pizza!”
Crazy: “I want to pay for your pizza.”
SM, looking directly into Crazy’s eyes, “NO, You will not pay for my pizza!”
I was one breath away from screaming on the top of my lungs, “Somebody help me!!”
He walked away, then walked back to tell me that he was just trying to be friendly. I should have let him pay.
OK, now was shaken. My daughter was in her stroller, not strapped in, I’m being pursued by a man twice my size and half my wit. So I decided to do what I probably wouldn’t have done a few yeas ago.
I was going to follow my intuition.
Since turning thirty, I’m really trying to listen to what that inner voice is saying.
So after getting my pizza, I walked directly to the police officer who was stationed at the check-in gate. I identified myself as a person he needed to take seriously. I even identified myself as a family member of someone who worked in his police department and told him that I am very concerned for my safety.
I told him about the events that led up to my approaching him, and how I know the difference between being ‘hit on’ and harassed. This was a case of harassment, not hitting on. When I got to the part about Crazy crying, the police officer perked to life and asked me about Crazy’s appearance. Was he tall, dark hair, dark skin, Caucasian, and talks with a slur?
That’s him!! Ok, when an officer can pick out one man at an airport that services a city with more than a million people in it, it’s just not a good sign.
Officer told me that this man flew a few weeks back and cried about something then too, which he found odd.
Officer walked me to gate 16, introduced me to the lady at the counter, got me a seat in the first row, and put Crazy in the back of the plane. I thanked Officer and walked over to the waiting area with eClaire and proceeded to call my husband.
At this point Officer 1 and his friend Officer 2, who just arrived, were talking to Crazy. They took his information and instructed him that he was to have nothing to do with me.
So this poor man, crazy as he was, sat in the corner and cried. I felt compassion for the man growing inside me, but quickly realized that I needed to take care of myself, and my baby. I could not worry because he needed to take care of himself.
The rest of the flight was uneventful, eClaire slept the whole time. Amazing!! I even brought earplugs to hand out if she began to throw a fit. But they weren’t needed! What a relief.
I’m really glad that I listened to my inner voice. Turns out that Crazy was simply slow. He lacked socially appropriate behaviors, and just wanted to make a friend. But I didn’t feel safe, and acted on it. That is something I wouldn’t have done in my twenties!
(Yes, your are right. I’m patting myself on my back right now:-))
Hubby talked with Southwest and American Airlines last night trying to find “compassion fare” for me.
Translation: We don’t want to pay full price for a flight that needs to be scheduled two days in advance.
Southwest Airlines doesn’t offer these fares. They said that we could buy a ticket for $280, the going rate. American Airlines does offer compassion fares. After giving them the funeral home’s information, the date and time of the funeral, and my cousin’s name, they said I could fly to San Diego for just $180. Not bad! We saved $100.
So eClaire and I are heading south on Monday evening and will return on Thursday. While we are going BC will spend the week with Hubby. They are thinking of going camping for a night. I can’t wait for an update on that adventure.
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