You know it's bad when you're referred to 'Zone F'

I am a lot of things. I am sarcastic. I'm motivated. I can be kind of funny. I get told a lot that my face is going to freeze into a permanent smirk, but that's besides the point. The fact is, I'm a lot of things, but lucky is not one of them.

All I want for Christmas is my mom. I don't really think that's too much to ask. Sure, PhotoShop would be nice, and another pair of boots, and a car, and a Chi straightener. But when it really comes down to it and I only get to ask for one thing, I'd go with my mom. After all, it's been almost four full months and I knew I missed her today when I came back from doing laundry this morning and starting jumping around gleefully in anticipation.

My alarm went off at 7:10 am and I jumped out of bed and ran to the computer to check her flight status. Delayed. Interesting, but when Nichole's parents came, their flight said delayed, too, and they were right on time - early even. So I didn't think much of it. I called the airline and the automated answering machine said that the flight hadn't been confirmed but it looked like it was coming in at 10:15, right on time.

I took the tube to the airport, and as I was walking through the arrivals gate, I kept breaking out into a smile because I was SO EXCITED. I went immediately to the arrivals screen and there was a blank spot next to my mom's flight where the arrival time should have been. Hmmm. Interesting.

I went over to the Information Desk, who directed me to Zone F to speak to Air India. I walked up to the customer service desk to ask the status of the Chicago flight. "Oh, it's not coming," said the evil-looking Air India deskman. I literally felt my heart deflate. Apparently there was a last-minute technical error and they canceled the flight. A new flight would "probably" be coming tomorrow. I almost burst into tears.

When I got back to my flat, I called my dad and said, 'Why didn't you email me to tell me Mom's flight was canceled?' And he was like, 'WHAT?!' Apparently my mom hadn't told him either. He got ahold of her, though, and she said that they kept pushing back the departure time until they finally cancelled it at 2:30 a.m.

So right now, it looks likely that she'll take a 4 o'clock flight from O'Hare to Heathrow, putting her in London at the ghastly hour of 6 a.m, which means that I have to get up around 4 to take a shower, get ready and catch the tube to the airport. I hope nothing goes wrong this time! I literally laid around and did nothing this afternoon because I was wallowing in my sadness. And the only difference between this afternoon and this evening is that now I am wallowing in my sadness... in the dark. Stupid, stupid flatmates.