My Memphis Vacation

Why Memphis, you ask? Let me explain. For 2 months now I have been anticipating a vacation to San Antonio, Texas, with my good friend, Dana. Dana was diagnosed with stage 4 non-Hotchkins Lymphoma back in August and went through several months of aggressive chemotherapy treatments. Her final round of chemo ended the third week of December so in November she decided she wanted to get away in January to 'celebrate' her final round of her first phase of chemo. Then after our vacation she could concentrate on what her next steps would be with her battle with cancer. Dana did find out in December that she is cancer free and she in now in remission! Her next steps in her treatments are still unknown, but this is great news. Back to my story...

We were looking forward to sunshine and shopping, and good eats and drinks. A terrible ice storm hit San Antonio the afternoon and night before we were to leave. Yes, an ice storm in Texas! And snow was to follow. We decided to go on the trip anyway. My travel plans were to take me from Nashville to Memphis to San Antonio; Dana's were from Flint to Atlanta to San Antonio. I left Nashville at 6:00am Wednesday morning and arrived in Memphis at 6:35am. By 7:00am I found out that they closed the San Antonio airport for the day or most of the day. OK, maybe not a big deal, I could get to San Antonio Thursday morning and just lose one day of being in San Antonio. And I knew Dana would be dealing with the same issue in Atlanta. The ticket agent then booked me on a flight for Thursday evening at 9:50pm on stand-by. STAND-BY?? So this means I wasn't even confirmed on the evening flight so I would have to stay in Memphis for 2 days, possibly 3, just to wait and see if I could get to San Antonio. I finally spoke with Dana and she had no idea what was happening with the flights in Atlanta. She was told that her flight would be delayed, but didn't know what time her flight would be that day. I finally decided I was going to head back to Nashville and cancel my trip to San Antonio since we were to leave San Antonio on Saturday anyway. So I was back on a plane by 9:30am and home by 10:30am! Dana finally made it to San Antonio late Wednesday night, but had to stay at a hotel for a couple of nights because her aunt was iced in at her home and couldn't get out to come to the airport to pick her up. I am sure this is not the vacation she was expecting either.

I guess I am not meant to take vacations! Back in November I had to go to NY to our Corporate Headquarters and a friend that I work with decided we should take a few extra days and live it up in NY City. Well, her husband had surgery and many complications so she had to cancel her trip which means my trip was cut short.

So if any of you ever get the opportunity to take a flight (no more than hour) and once you arrive at the airport take the next flight back to the city where you started, I would highly recommend it. What a thrill! I was very disappointed that I wouldn't be spending time with Dana, but I also didn't get to see Elvis while in Memphis!