Wow, what a feeling to look at that list and see "Landed" next to my name!
So...we set off early from Negril, my Mom and brother went with me to the airport. My brother, who normally is a speedy sort of driver, took his own sweet time and refused to go above the speed limit, declaring he was in no hurry to part with me. There were no tears at the airport, though, they both hugged me a lot, and wished me all the best, and sent good wishes to my hubby.
My flight to Pearson went smoothly until the last few minutes. Those of you living in the GTA know there were some wild thunderstorms yesterday, and guess whose plane had to descend through said thunderstorms to land? I was sure I was going to either puke, pass out or have an asthma attack, it was the worst landing experience of my traveling life, bar none, I was that terrified from the way the plane was tossing. Things only got more interesting from there, though!
They had apparently shut down the airport to wait out the storms, and that somehow meant that when the storms had passed by the time we landed, many delayed flights were held on the tarmac until the gates could be brought back into operation. We sat on the tarmac in our plane, unable to disembark for TWO HOURS! I was freaking out by the time they let us off, knowing that my 4 hour layover was now cut down to two hours, and I had yet to clear Customs and Immigration.
Inside the airport, though, everyone was spectacularly nice. I was "Welcome to Canada!"'d at every stop, from the first Customs agent who checked my declaration card, to the last one who sorted my luggage. I was so hyperactive from tension and the huge coffee I drank while waiting at MBJ that the Immigration officer who processed me wanted to know if I was alright, LOL. He was very pleasant, asking me questions from the form, and making small talk while he did the paperwork. He was thoroughly impressed with the fact that when he wanted to check the exceptions for sponsoring I could tell him the section of the Act, haha! When he was explaining the residency requirement and I told him, he smiled and said "Well, I think you are good to go, welcome to Canada!"
I then went down to declare my goods, and the Customs officer there was impressed I had my B4 and B4A forms all ready for her. She reassured me I would be in time for my next flight because of all the delays and said someone from check-in would call the gate to let them know I was on my way. She finished the paperwork in 5 minutes, gave me my copies, and never even opened my bags.
I had to run after I got my boarding pass to get to my next gate, and arrived with barely 30 minutes to go before boarding was supposed to begin. By this time, it was after 11, and I was supposed to have left Toronto at 10:55 p.m.. As it is, with the additional delays, we didn't start boarding until after midnight. Then we did more sitting on the tarmac, because the ground crew disappeared and we had to wait for them to come back, load the bags and signal the plane for take off! By the time we took off, it was just past 1:20 a.m. I was dead tired, hyperactive and had a massive headache.
I survived the hour in the air to Sudbury, and then thank God, finally on the ground again. I prayed through the landing of that flight because I was terrified it would be like the last one! But it was smooth, and we walked out of the place to the airport building, and as I rounded the corner, who did I see but hubby standing there, hands in pockets waiting. I walked in, dropped the handle of my bag and just hugged him. We hugged for a good two minutes, just standing there and people flowed around us and smiled and some clapped, LOL.
The next part of the journey was the two hour drive to the house. We stopped at Tim Horton's (of course!) so I could get a hot chocolate and a sandwich, and after about an hour, I dozed off clutching hubby's hand. I woke up again about 30 mins from home, and he pointed out signs and places as we went through the town. At 4:30 a.m., we pulled into the driveway, and I was officially home. Hubby actually carried me across the threshold of the house!
We have not been to sleep yet, we just lay together and talked and dozed and now we're sitting side by side, he is having his coffee and I am drinking tea and we are together again. I am dead tired, but extremely happy and grateful to finally be home with my husband.
I wish everyone still waiting all the patience and productivity needed for a successful wait, and many happy reunions.
Thanks to everyone for the help, the company during my wait and special thanks to those who came to meet me last night (you know who you are!) but I never got to see due to circumstances beyond my control.
Jamgirl...over to you!
