since it was raining, my father came by to pick me up 1:30pm to go the cafe. i wore my rain boots since i was prepared to walk home afterwards. my father had to watch the cafe and my mother didn't't know how to drive there, so i was tasked with taking my grandmother to the airport for her 5:43pm jetblue flight back to san jose (flight 471). the flight would be 6.5 hours and she'd get there at 9:18pm pacific time, where relatives would come and pick her up. i volunteered to drive because it was also my last chance to see her before she leaves, since i didn't see her yesterday when they still ended up going to tin tin buffet.

originally scheduled to leave at 2pm, we pushed it back to 2:30pm as we didn't want to get to the airport too early. my mother came with me as we drove to my 2nd aunt's place at 2:25pm. my mother went into the apartment and got both of them out, my aunt pushing my grandmother in a wheelchair. though 90 years old, i still don't like seeing my grandmother in a wheelchair. not that she can't walk, but she walks slow, either just from age or simply afraid of falling. my grandmother used to walk faster than anyone i know, leaving everyone else far behind her as she naturally speedwalked up ahead. that's the way i always remember her.

we got to the airport uneventfully, although it was raining slightly. it took us nearly an hour to get there, not so much the driving (we took the turnpike so it was quick), but once we got to logan, it took me 3 tries circling the maze of elevated roads to finally find the central parking lot. we parked but discovered it was on the opposite side of where we wanted to be, so it took us additional time pushing my grandmother in the wheelchair and riding two elevators to finally get to the jetblue check-in counter.

because my grandmother was a senior citizen traveling in a wheelchair, we were able to line up in the quicker special assistance line. we requested wheelchair service and waited patiently nearby for jetblue to send one to get my grandmother. when they came, she switched the airport wheelchair and we watched as the attendant pushed her through the security checkpoint. after that she was on her own, about 4pm, with another hour and a half before she would be on her way back home. we left the airport, narrowly missing rush hour, arriving back at the cafe by 4:45pm. my aunt was worried that my grandmother didn't turn off her cellphone. i said it wasn't a problem, worst thing that would happen is the battery would drain searching futilely for a signal.

i left the cafe by 4:50pm, walking in the cold rain, taking me about 20 minutes to get back home. i noticed a few days ago that there's a rip in the tongue of my rubber boots. i temporarily patched it up with duct tape, but that area gets a lot of bends and the tape came off. i'll need to order a new pair, these have serviced me well for over a decade.

my new oral-b electric toothbrush heads arrived. i didn't realize how badly i needed to replace the head until i compared the old with the new. of course getting a new "toothbrush" meant a renewed interest in brushing my teeth. not sure if it's just the placebo effect, but my teeth felt cleaner afterwards.

around 5:20pm my mother called me to ask if there was anything wrong with the flight because she contacted my grandmother who was still not onboard the plane yet even though they were 20 minutes away from the scheduled departure time. i went online to check and discovered that the departure time was pushed back 2 hours to 7:20pm. that was our biggest fear, because some other flights had already been cancelled or delayed because of the rainy weather. we checked the departure board at the airport to make sure my grandmother's plane was still on schedule. at the time it was, but 3 hours later it wasn't. and because my grandmother doesn't understand english, she probably didn't know when they announced the delay. worse, she may need services (like getting water or using the bathroom) which she can't do on her own while in the wheelchair. but my grandmother said another 2 hours of wait wasn't a big deal so we held off on doing anything for the time being. i called jetblue to ask if they could get someone to help my grandmother but they had no such service in place; either she requests some help or she's on her own. they did give me the option of rescheduling the flight for free, which i kept a note of just in case.

rest of the day i monitored the flight departure time to see if there would be any additional delays. everything looked okay until 7pm, when there was a second delay to 9:40pm. you got to be kidding me. so my mother and 2nd aunt were furiously contacting my grandmother (good thing she didn't turn off her phone), telling her there was a 2nd delay, and it wasn't until 9:40pm. my grandmother said she could wait, but one of our biggest worries was what if there was a 3rd delay? my grandmother's been stuck at the airport since 3:30pm. no food, no water, no bathroom break. not only that, but even if the plane were to leave, it was another 6 hours before she'd arrive in san jose.

so what ended up happening was my parents came to pick me up at 8:30pm and together we went back to the airport. the plan was this: not tell my grandmother that we were at the airport (she'd get worried), but in case there was a 3rd delay, we would get her out and reschedule a different departure date, so she wouldn't end up spending the night at the airport. i talked to an agent at the jetblue counter who told me the delay had nothing to do with planes not being able to take off from logan airport; the delay was because the plane that was supposed to leave boston to san jose hadn't even arrived yet, flying in from florida and delayed by some bad weather.

i hadn't had dinner yet so i got some burger king takeout from the food court at exorbitant airport rates. we brought the collapsible wheelchair for my grandmother (just in case) but my mother sat in it the whole time, enjoying the luxury of being wheeled around. while we ate, my mother did end up calling my grandmother, partially to check up on her, partially to let her know of our plan in case of another delay. my grandmother said she got help from some other old ladies, who gave her some water. my grandmother also stashed some food in her coat and ate that as well.

we kept our eyes glued to the departure board. the only good sign was jetblue flights that were delayed were now finally departing. though my grandmother's flight was one of the longest ones delayed, there were just about half a dozen flights awaiting departure, if they were able to fly they would fly. the flight was pushed back again, but just to 10:30pm. any additional delays and we were ready to extract my grandmother. she didn't call us back directly but around 10:15pm she did call my 2nd aunt to tell us she was already boarding the plane finally. and when we were back at the car she finally called us to let us know everything was okay. her flight didn't finally leave until well after 11pm, to arrive in san jose around 2am in the morning pacific standard time.