Making the best of it

I know what you are thinking, “Why didn’t he stay with his wife and two boys for Father’s Day.” Let me remind you that it is not called family day or kids day or wives day; it is Father’s Day. I went to Vegas to play in a big poker tournament. There were 1,720 players. Top prize was $259,230. I finished 127th and made a few bucks. It was a thrilling emotional roller coaster of an event and I played against some of the top players in the world and even a celebrity (James Woods) or two. The night before I left, the family and I celebrated Father’s Day with a dinner at a local Italian restaurant that we frequent. I left with their blessing and best wishes.

OK so you don’t care about the poker, so listen to this. I won’t tell you what airline I took because I don’t want to get sued. I flew from somewhere in the Northeast to Vegas with one stop somewhere in the Midwest to switch planes. The airline is excellent most of the time but I think they screwed up on this occasion.

A bunch of us leapt off our first flight, which was late, to try and catch the connection that we knew was also running late. We got to the gate and saw our plane on the tarmac. It wasn’t moving yet. A bunch of millennials were screaming at the ticket counter person to tell them to hold the plane. Suddenly, the plane started moving slowly then it was gone. I was disappointed then somewhat stunned when I saw, immediately on my right, a 95 year old woman in a wheelchair, her daughter and a dog. They were also on the first flight with me and also missed the connector. I know that there might have been weather problems but how about somebody communicating that we will be there in a few minutes?

Now it is about midnight

and the next flight to Vegas is in the very early morning. I figured I had to try and find a hotel or sleep in the terminal on a chair. I looked to my right again and the somber trio was still there. They were stuck also. I decided to work with them to try to get lodging. For the next hour we contacted hotels and used pertinent websites to try to figure something out. Nothing was working. A lady near us, who was also stranded with her little boy said, “There is nothing near this airport.”

It is now after 1 am and we have two choices; try cab it to an expensive room far away from the airport or stay here. We go around and around a bit then the feisty 95 year old says, “I think we can stay here.” The dog hears this and looks up at us. OK, lets find where and how we are going to try and sleep.

Some airline rep comes out of nowhere with some blankets, water and some snacks, usually fed to hamsters, and we are all set for the next few hours of non-sleep. We got on the plane the next morning and arrived in magnificent Las Vegas tired but happy to be there.

A few days later I got this email from one of my new friends.

“Just wanted to thank you again for being our great helper during that crazy night in Denver. I really don’t know if I could’ve done all that by myself with the dog and the wheelchair; but we survived!” Guess where I am going on Father’s Day next year.