So three weeks ago, an old friend of mine asked me to be her date at her friend's wedding. I admit she's someone I never did date, but I have wondered what would happen if we did. And I hadn't been back to Chicago in 3 years, which was also ironically for a wedding. So I accepted.
I left work at 2:45 on Friday afternoon and drove the 19 miles from Newport News to Norfolk Airport... which took an hour and 15 minutes. The Hampton Roads Bridge Tunnel traffic doesn't start building at rush hour around 4:30 pm. No, it begins backing up around 2 pm. And there was a 3 mile backup, but it actually moved steadily and I was able to get through the tunnel in about an hour.
I pulled into the Norfolk parking garage around 4 pm, grabbed my large brown and white stitched suitcase and headed inside. Thankfully there were no lines to speak of at the ticket counter or security, so I was able to get to my gate almost an hour before departure.
Now the one nonstop flight looked like my best bet. Three days before, there were 14 open seats. Even the afternoon of the flight, there were still six open seats. And using my D1 pass, I was on top of the standby list. I knew there were 76 seats and once the boarding process began, I noticed there seemed like more than that many people standing around the gate. I didn't want to be negative, but deep down, I had an unsettling feeling in my gut.
The gate agent even asked if I was Bartolo (she mispronounced my name of course) and said she'd get back to me. And then on the monitor, there were the words... the two worst words to see as a standby passenger.
"Boarding closed."
I had been bumped. And I knew the other flights out of Norfolk were close to solidly booked and I began to wonder if I could even make it to Chicago at all. And my bag was already on the nonstop plane, it's not like I could just grab my luggage and go home.
I talked with my friend for nearly half an hour. She encouraged me to do what was best for me and I really wanted to make this work, but I was not about to get stuck in an airport for two days. I decided to try flying to Charlotte to see what I could do and then if it didn't work Saturday, I'd just go home.
Now there were two Norfolk to Charlotte flights and they looked close to full. But I figured I'd try. I checked in, and saw I was down to 10 on the standby list. I had no idea why I would go down like that if I was a D1. I was really starting to think I'd go home and try flying into Philly on Saturday morning before taking an open flight to Chicago in the early afternoon.
Well, they managed to get all the standby passengers on! I think there were 13 listed, I don't know that it was 13 people but I got a seat, 9E, which was the second row of coach.
So I had two shots that night to make Chicago. The first flight looked more open but I was only scheduled to have a 10 minute layover. So it was going to take a quick deplaning and a short distance between gates. And it wouldn't hurt for the Charlotte to Chicago flight to be delayed for a few minutes.
I knew the plane to Chicago was scheduled to leave at 8:12 pm from Gate B3. Late in the flight, we were told our new gate was C4. I knew i would have to pass through the main dining and shopping area where there would be a lot of foot traffic. But for distance, I knew it would be relatively short. Well, the plane landed right at 7:50, so I knew boarding had already commenced. I was even more glad I had the seat towards the front.
The pilot did a great job to be able to get the plane right to the gate, there was no waiting for a gate to open or anything like that. It was funny that the flight attendant asked for those who were finishing their travel in Charlotte to stay in their seats so that those making tight connections could get to their gates. Well out of the 170 or so passengers, I would wager that about 160 to 165 of those passengers had connections to make, hopefully that night.
As soon as my feet hit the tarmac, mom called. I was happy to hear from her, but knowing that I had to start running, I had to let her know this was just not the time! But as soon as I told her the boarding was about to finish for that plane, she understood and let me go.
I had started with a steady jog as I gingerly tried to move around an old lady with a walker. As soon as there was a space, I was like Curtis Martin. I got that hole and took off down the side of the aisle! Past the admirals club, past the restaurants, past the shops, and down the incline to the B concourse.
I got to B3 and saw on the monitor that the gate agents had already started assigning seats to the standby passengers. On the board I was number 7 but a few passengers under me had their seat assignments already. I marched up to the agent and gave them my name. She said she'd passed me by long ago. I said our plane just landed give minutes ago and I sprinted to make it. Two minutes later, a couple came jogging up... they had been on my flight too. We all got our seats and as stressful as those 6 hours were, the only thing that had to be changed was Friday night dinner. Ryan picked me up and we made a plan. Instead of deep dish pizza, it was Portillo's. Big beef sandwich with cheddar, sweet peppers, and hot peppers. Nothing like it. After about an hour of hockey, it was bedtime. Well in my case, couch time.
I woke up at 6:45 and we went to the gym for an hour. After running 4 miles the day prior, it was all lifting. I loved doing reverse squats, assisted chin ups and dips, hip abductions, these were machines i hadn't used much in 5 years. I wish I knew they had a steam room and sauna! I needed some protein and we grabbed a couple of coconut almond bliss bars. I checked the ingredients and... no chocolate.
We made a quick stop at a small farmers market in Lisle. Hahns bakery from Geneva had a stand, and it's a good thing they didn't have any of their crumb cake because it is so good. But at the market, I opened the bar up and... of course it's coated in chocolate. So I'll have to tweet them about the false advertising.
After going back to his place, I finished packing and we drove through the pouring rain to Gino's East in Wheaton, the only remaining location in the suburbs. Jennifer arrived about 30 minutes after we did. We all split a Supreme deep dish pizza, and I left with Jennifer. She took me to her cluttered one bedroom apartment where I dropped off my luggage and then we headed out.
She had to do some grocery shopping at Woodman's, a large, employee owned local grocery store. I walked in and I couldn't believe how much variety there was. They probably had two full aisles for frozen pizza alone. They didn't have a bread aisle, they had six aisles for breads all labeled by brands. Super impressive.
We also took a look in their walk in liquor store. It was only then i found out that she is a big fan of IPA beers, just like me. We shared a pretty hearty laugh that we were just learning that about each other. I was interested in getting a Brickstone APA or Two Brothers Pinball Ale. But she wasn't really interested in any of that and I was not about to leave with a 6 pack so we left with nothing.
But we did go to Brother Chimp, a new brewery in North Aurora. Decent beer, but the staff already has their stupid pride gear out. I did like the shuffleboard golf table and we spent about half an hour aiming the pucks down the sand covered board. It was fun and I got to see her competitive side, she even talked a little trash, and I didn't really mind it too much.
By now the rain had stopped, and we began a 40 minute drive east to Oak Brook mall. We had both heard about Puttshack, a technically advanced indoor mini golf course. What we didn't know is reservations were needed. The soonest they could get us in would've been 11 pm. So there went that idea. But she did have a chance to explore Kendra Scott, her favorite jewelry store.
But that aside, we did have dinner at Yard House. Despite the hour wait, I scored two seats at the bar. The peach iced tea was fresh and flavorful and I really liked the spicy jambalaya. It had chicken, crawfish, andouille sausage, shrimp, vegetables, and a Cajun cream sauce over linguini.
By then we were both ready to go home. Once there, we watched an episode of 20/20, though we both fell asleep before the ending. I suggested we watch the end on Sunday. Sadly, that never came to pass.
On Sunday morning, I made our brunch reservation at Ginger and Soul in downtown Yorkville. Jennifer had recommended it, she said it was the best
all you can eat brunch and their food was homemade. The restaurant is only open from 9-1 on Saturday and Sunday. That's right, just eight hours per week. The only time we could get in was 9 am.
We were the first table seated and they only have eight tables in their dining room. I got my oj and Jennifer got her coffee. Right away we headed up to the buffet line and it was so amazing.
Herb and cheese frittata, thick cut bacon, thick sausage patties, cheesy hash browns, banana bread French toast, biscuits, sausage gravy, Caprese salad, cinnamon rolls, raspberry brownies, fruit salad, almond poppyseed scones, chocolate chip cookies...
Everything I tried was excellent. The bacon and sausage were so full of flavor. The French toast really had that nice banana and cinnamon flavor going. Cheeses added richness to the hash brown potatoes. Cinnamon roll was so flaky. I even took some the buttercream frosting on top and spooned it on the French toast bake and that only made it even more amazing. 23 dollars was a pretty solid deal, especially since it was unlimited portions.
After brunch, we went to Highpoint Church in North Aurora. It's a small church in the middle of a subdivision. The majority of the congregation was white but they do have one Sista Johnson. During the entire message, the pastor couldn't go tweet sentences without hearing:
"Yes pastuh."
"Uh huh"
"Yes yes yes"
I will never knock someone with how they worship. If it's genuinely honoring to God, it's not my place to judge. But when the changing gets so distracting, it's a problem.
And the pastor was a husky Italian guy, seemed like a good dude. But he had so much info to get in for his sermon about stress, it was like stuffing 8 pounds of stuff into a 5 pound bag. He had to speak so quickly that it was hard to follow along. He seemed stressed while preaching about stress!
Both of us were feeling the food coma and we faded in and out of consciousness. R went home and napped for about an hour. Then it was time to get ready for the wedding. I only took about 20 minutes to get ready and it was my first time wearing a black shirt and black slacks with a different color tie. I kind of like the look.
We had to drive 45 minutes to downtown Joliet, it was the only time Jennifer would drive on the highway. I realized she prefers to concentrate when driving so rarely spoke in the car and listened to country and rock music mumble their way through poor quality speakers.
The ceremony was held in an old church sanctuary, which was attached to a mansion. I think from start to finish, it took 20 minutes total. Now I didn't know anyone there, but the groom was Italian, so that was a good start. Cocktail hour was fine with three glasses of Merlot. I met Jennifer's friend Elizabeth, who I found to be nice but kind of socially awkward.
After that hour, it was time for dinner. After the salad, it was bowls of mashed potatoes, overdone steamed vegetables, mostaccioli, chuck roast, sausage and peppers, and Italian dressing marinated chicken breast. The DJ did a great job with music from Lou Monte, Dean Martin, Frank Sinatra, Bee Gees, ABBA, John Mellencamp, Def Leppard, Brooks & Dunn, Kenny Rogers, etc.
I was dancing, I was engaged, I was having a ball. And this was a mostly older demo wedding, there were not a lot of people dancing. It was mostly those of us at Table 5 and the really young kids who kept the energy up.
So Jennifer wanted to leave at 8:30 to get ready for work in the morning. I didn't mind, except time started to slip and by 8:45, she basically said we had to go. I went along with it and we walked into the parking lot. Looking back at this, I don't even know why, maybe because I was singing a song or I was still in a joking mood, but she said I was getting on her nerves. Right then and there, I decided I didn't want to escalate, so I kept my mouth shut. All 45 minutes back to her place. I just went through my phone and wouldn't look at her.
The next morning, I checked the flights. And although there were 2 or 3 open seats on the late planes from Charlotte and LaGuardia to Norfolk, I decided I didn't really want to sirens the day downtown lugging around my suitcase. There were 2 openings on the 1 pm nonstop to Norfolk so I decided to go for that instead.
The tension between Jennifer and I didn't dissipate overnight. Around 5:45 am, she gently knocked on my door to wake me up since she needed to be back home and on her computer for work by 7:30.
She drove me the 20 minutes to downtown Geneva. Just like the previous night, not a word was spoken. After I collected my luggage from the trunk, I told her thanks for the ride and I hope she had a pleasant day. She mumbled to me thanks for accompanying her to the wedding. I sadly said goodbye and I turned around and walked off. I really wondered what it would've been like dating her. The answer, as I learned this weekend, would've been stressful and frustrating.
Egg Harbor didn't open until 7 am and I had arrived 20 minutes sooner than anticipated. But they let me sit down and gave me some water, only one other take was occupied at the moment. My friend Julie arrived and we chatted about anything from parents to music, 9/11, YouTube, tennis, gas prices, and what a piece of garbage Joe Biden is.
I had to get my strawberry orange juice, there is no juice like it. And now they stated making mimosas with it, a move that is pure genius. My breakfast was a 3 egg scrambler with spinach, tomato, and Jack and cheddar cheese along with turkey bacon, breakfast potatoes and an English muffin. Julie got a plate of 3 blueberry pancakes that were about the size of a medium pizza. I think her breakfasts will be set for the rest of the week.
She wasn't familiar with Geneva and St Charles so I guided her around, as I explored businesses that had changed and businesses that have stayed the same. Downtown St Charles had really changed, more and more buildings keep getting constructed by the river. They even added Alter Brewery at the base of one of those buildings, I wish I could have tried it when I still lived there.
My old house hasn't changed much. I did see a couple of cat play toys inside, which we certainly wouldn't have had. And as we circled Whittington Course, I saw a Gorecki home improvement truck. I knew Miles, our longtime maintenance man, was there. So I walked up and he recognized me pretty quick. We chatted for five minutes and I was on my way.
Julie dropped me off at O'Hare around 10:45. I enjoyed our time together, it was far more relaxed than it had been with Jennifer. The nonstop was booked even but a few people missed their connection so I got my seat asking with the other three standbys. And sure I would have liked to go downtown and eat some more, but it really didn't bother me to get home before nightfall.
