Grace…sleeping after her flight.
Around midnight last night we found ourselves with about 200 other people waiting for our luggage in the Orlando, Florida Airport. We quickly followed that wonderful interlude with an hour and half wait for a rental car. Soooooo…around 2:00 am we were settled in our resort and reflected on the last two hours of human behavior. True personalities are revealed in trying times. Such as at an airport with children after midnight for two hours, surrounded by crowds, and dropping over $500.00 for a rental car FOR A WEEK! Orlando…the land of dreams…Mickey Mouse, Cinderella, Parades…this dream ruins family relationships and checking accounts within minutes of landing.
Don’t worry…our family is still united and our check book is just fine. We KNOW what we are getting into and are prepared for it! BRING IT ON!
But let me tell you about the lady who broke Kelsey’s heart. Rudel was taking the manly lead of getting the rental car so we, supportive and encouraging, took a small corner FAR away from EVERYONE and opened the snacks and a movie on the computer. Near our little corner a lady was on breaking down on the phone. Crying and requesting for whoever was on the other end to transfer money. She needed over $430.00. We don’t know if this was a tax on an inclusive trip or a rental car. But the fact is…she didn’t have the money. What she did have was a cart full of luggage and two kids under ten staring at her. Within minutes we hear extremely loud voices around the corner and hear said lady screaming at an older lady. They are exchanging profanities and then the older lady throws her backpack into the younger ladies face. The two children watching in shock. The younger lady grabs the black suitcase from the cart. Throws it to the floor and storms off with her kids trailing.
“We don’t need Grandma…LETS GO!”
Thus the lesson: When you are tired and you have no money your stress level can turn you into someone and something that you never dreamed you could be.
We talked about four things while sitting in our little corner of the Orlando airport at 1:00 am. We talked about wisdom in money, respecting our elders, being good examples for our children, and what could we do as the DeCastro family in this situation?
Kelsey was really struggling as she watched the two abandoned mickey mouse balloons floating near the scene of the fight. A time of such excitement turned into such a fiasco. We prayed, we talked, and then we went to find the young lady. We didn’t know for sure how we would help…if we would just listen, if we would offer a ride, or if we would bless her with some finances.
As Kelsey and I approached the lady she was on the phone. We shamelessly ease dropped for a few minutes and then felt the release to leave. She had commissioned a taxi cab for a ride, told her children they didn’t need Grandma anyway and that they would just down size the trip a little.
Kelsey still had sadness radiating from her deep brown eyes but knew that the situation was under control. We are bothered by everything we witnessed….but the conversation with my children that night were priceless.
