Homeward Bound and a Case of Mistaken Identity

New Year's Eve came as the day we were all going to fly home. Jim, Ellie, and Me from Cali and Aeryn returning from Texas. The three of us were to land three hours before Aeryn so I could be there to meet her plane. I was a little bit anxious just because I like to be in complete control of life (which almost never even pretends to happen) and we'd had so many delays on our trip out. I kept my calm and I'm pretty sure no one really noticed my internal nerves since we woke up just after 3 am and had stayed up until at least midnight. The lines were longer than we expected and I started to worry, which is when it happened.

We stepped up to the kiosk to print boarding passes and wouldn't you know, my ticket was reserved using my OLD LAST NAME. 

Now, I am not the one who bought my ticket so it was a little bit surprising to realize that my own husband didn't remember that we share names now. We were lucky enough to get someone on the phone who switched the name so that my drivers license would match and I could actually get on board but I can't pretend it didn't put fear into my heart for a little while. 

The flight was uneventful, except for being able to witness the most incredible sunrise I've ever seen. There are no words to describe the vantage point... seeing the gradual glow creeping over the curved horizon and the band of illumination steadily getting wider. At one point there was a bright red stripe hovering over the horizon that made me nearly deplete my phone battery taking pictures. 

Even then, they don't begin to do it justice.

Then it was our family Christmas (no pics), dinner, and unpacking. We had promised the girls to stay up until the new year, which was fun but insane on our part. Long story short, we all made it even though it meant that we were all up for 21 hours. Surprisingly there were no meltdowns either.

We were a little wiped out the following day. 

On the 2nd we checked the mail and found a Christmas package from my own parents addressed to a strange set of people we don't know...

Which means that within two days I found that both my husband and my parents forgot my last name. It's not like it's still our first year married. At least I remember who I am, and at least Aeryn has received enough packages at this address that the office girl recognized the last name and didn't return the package as is their policy when the name doesn't match the lessee. So Happy New Year! Perhaps my resolution this year will be to monogram half my house so no one forgets who I am.