"The course of true love never did run smooth"

And neither did the course of moving. I'm here at my parents' house, but it wasn't easy getting here. Thursday morning we got up bright and early and walked about two miles to a place called Bee Zee Auto to pick up our Penske truck. Michael had called on Wednesday to let them know we would be getting there about 10:00 to pick it up. We arrived promptly at 9:58 by my watch. We told the first guy we saw why we were there and he referred us to another guy. We told him we were there for the truck, whereupon he disappeared behind a door for about five minutes. When he came back he said, "Do you need the truck right now?" We kind of looked at him, then each other, and Michael said, "Well, yeah. That's why we're here. We called yesterday." We were then told that only one person handles the Penske rentals (the owner) and he wasn't expected for another hour. So, we went to IHOP for breakfast, and Michael called the Penske customer service line. We got in touch with someone in the office in Braintree, which is the next city south of Quincy, who said that when we got back to the place he could register the rental over the phone, then fax the paperwork to be signed. So, we finished eating, went back to find that the owner had still not arrived, even though the designated hour had elapsed. Michael called the Penske guy who did all the stuff and faxed it. We heard the fax machine ring shortly after Michael got off the phone. After waiting for another 15 minutes or so, the guy told us that the fax machine was in the locked office and only the owner (who still had not arrived) had a key. Michael called the guy in Braintree yet again, explained the situation and the guy said someone from there would come help us out. At this point it was about 11:15, and we were expecting the guy from Comcast to come pick up our DVR between 11:00 and 2:00 and we also had people coming to help us move around noon. I left to take the T back to the house in hopes of beating everyone there (we hadn't realized when we walked to the place that it was past the next T station). By the time I got back to the apartment it was 11:45 and Michael had already gotten the truck and got there less than ten minutes later. The Comcast guy did try to come while we were gone, but Michael was able to call him back and he came back about half an hour later to pick the box up, so that wasn't too bad. The movers got there a little late (which was really okay) and we got everything loaded up in under two hours. The rest of the day went pretty well. We went and got Mike from the airport. His flight went without a hitch. He took us out to dinner, then we went back to the apartment to clean and do all the last minute packing. After very little sleep, we all got up at 4:00 am and the taxi picked me up at 4:30. When I got to the airport, I got to wait in what I thought at the time to be the longest line in America. I didn't actually wait through the entire line, because at 5:15 they started calling for passengers on the 6:20 flight to Chicago to come to the front to be checked in (I was supposed to fly from Boston to Chicago to Seattle to Spokane and get in around 4:00 PST). I got checked in, went through security, bought myself a book (The Devil Wears Prada) and waited for about 15 minutes to board. When I got to Chicago my Seattle flight wasn't on the monitors, nor did I have a gate number listed on my boarding pass. I finally found someone to ask, they looked up my flight and informed me it was canceled. At O'Hare airport they have "Rebooking Centers" in the terminal, so I had to go there and call an 800 number to get rebooked on a different flight. I was put on the 4:40 pm American Airlines flight to LA, then the 8:50 pm Alaska Airlines flight to Spokane, arriving at 11:35 pm. The fun part was that it was only about 10:00 am. Also, I had to leave security and go talk to a ticketing agent to have paper tickets reissued. The American Airlines person could only give me the tickets for my flight to LA and told me to go talk to Alaska Airlines to get my boarding pass to Spokane. When I got to their counter there were two agents helping another man, but when they saw me they said "We're closed." I quickly explained my situation and one of them told me to just get the boarding pass in LA. I guess I looked pathetic enough, because one of them decided to help me after all. I figured it would only take maybe five minutes to get it taken care of, but they were apparently confused, because it took them about a half an hour and then I ended up with the wrong thing (I didn't find that out until I was trying to board my flight from LA to Spokane, but we'll get to that later). I went through security again (for the second time that day) and hung out at the airport for about eight hours. Fun stuff, let me tell you. At one point I realized that the book I had purchased in Boston was not going to last me all day, so I bought another book (Angels and Demons by Dan Brown). This was good thinking on my part, as the first book gave out less than halfway through my Chicago to LA flight. Let me just pause a moment to say that LAX is the stupidest airport in the Free World, and perhaps even in all the world. I have honestly been in better airports in third world countries. The airport consists of several different buildings that are not at all connected, so if you have to change airlines, you have to leave security, go outside and walk to the next building. When I arrived at LAX at about 7:45 (remember, my next flight was supposed to board at 8:20) I followed the gate numbers down, trying to get from the mid-40s to gate 31. The gates ended at 40 and I was faced with the security checkpoint. Confused, I looked around and then asked someone how to get to gate 31. He explained that I would have to leave the building and walk to the building two away. Now, airport buildings are not small and I had already been lugging around my heavy violin and a carry on bag (which wasn't particularly light either) for 18 hours. I then had to go outside, walk for ten minutes or so, and get in another ridiculously long line to go back through security. By the time I got to the metal detector it was 8:15 and I was kind of freaking out. Then, I got searched. Fabulous. After that minor ordeal I arrived at the scheduled gate to be met with the announcement that my 8:50 flight had been delayed until 11:15 with an expected arrival in Spokane of 1:30. Let me just reiterate: 11:15 and 1:30. I had left my apartment at 4:30 am EST. They nice woman had just unknowingly informed me that my trip was going to take more than 24 hours to be completed. I sat down on the floor, called my parents and had a meltdown. A complete meltdown. Fortunately, it was not delayed any further. I got something to eat and read, played Sudoku, and called my mother-in-law, successfully passing the nearly three hours I had to spend in LAX. After waiting in line to board the flight, the gate agent told me that my boarding pass wasn't good enough and that I had to go talk to the person at the desk. I must've looked like I was about to freak out again because she reassured me, "No, it's okay, you're okay, I just need something else. When you're done don't wait in line again, just come straight back to me." So, I did and I did get on the flight. I actually managed to sleep some, being completely wiped out. I have never been so relieved to get somewhere as I was when I walked off the plane in Spokane and met my parents just outside of security. My luggage even made it with me, which was pleasantly shocking. We got home around 3:00 am and I got to bed about 4:00 am. Michael and his dad should be arriving in the wee hours of the morning, and things seem to be going well for them. We already have a crew lined up (I think) to unload the truck tomorrow afternoon. It's good to be back at last.