...But

Today was a long day of travel. I left the house we were staying at in Ohio at 7:45 (Eastern time) and didn't get to my house until 6:10 (Mountain time). That's over twelve hours of driving, waiting, flying, and mostly waiting.

...BUT I'm thankful that we have airplanes - that trip would have taken a lot longer in a car, train, or back in the ol' horse & buggy days.

The ticketing lady was a big jerk who talked really fast and mumbly and then made me feel stupid for not knowing what she said.

...BUT I'm thankful there was no line and I had no problems with my reservation.

I hadn't realized when I planned the trip that a 1 stop, no plane change flight meant I couldn't get lunch during the layover.

...BUT I'm thankful that Dan had bought me a bag of Cheez-its.

The second leg of the flight sat on the runway in Midway for almost two hours, as they were trying to get bags on and a lot of delays and redirected flights meant 11 extra planes for the bag people to deal with.

...BUT I'm thankful we made it to Midway at all. The captain said a lot of planes headed there were redirected, but they let us land.

There were about 8 babies/toddlers on board the second leg of the flight, and they seemed to have a schedule going so they'd all poop in their diapers just when the smell of the last one wore away. One of them cried the entire flight - including the time we sat on the runway - for a total of 5 hours.

...BUT I'm thankful none of the poopy babies nor the crying one were sitting too close to me.

Our plane had to circle Denver airport for about 20-30 minutes because they couldn't get the flaps up that slow down the plane on the runway.

...BUT I'm thankful the emergency flaps gave us a safe (albeit slightly fast) landing, and that the emergency personnel were prepared to help us.

The luggage took an hour to come out of the baggage claim.

...BUT I'm thankful my bag didn't get lost.

There were a ton of cars on the highway driving back.

...BUT I'm thankful that in Colorado, heavy traffic (unless there's an accident or snow) means we're going 70.

...And I'm so thankful to have my puppies back!