YOU ARE NOT ALONE - A companion online community discussion board for The Mental Illness Happy Hour podcast with Paul Gilmartin

I just have to put this in writing somewhere, because it all just seems too good to be true. It is part awefulsome, part vacation fights. And it just keeps getting better.

I have a cousin in England who is getting married Saturday, so my family (parents, 2 brothers, I) are going over. We booked the flight in January, and I told my mother I found deals at a hotel in Central London for us to stay for the 2 days we'll be there. Well...She decided to wait until March to book, and was upset that she didn't get the price I told her I had found. No big deal, we've still got a place to stay.

2 weeks ago, we get a phone call & e-mail from Priceline (Priceline? I thought we booked directly with Virgin Atlantic!) stating our flight had been changed and we would fly Chicago - New York - London. Yeah...My mother paid for extra leg room and exit row seats for all of us, plus my dad will not fly with a layover. So, 6 hours on the phone later, my mother gets us rebooked for a nonstop a day earlier (which would be tonight). Now, we have to adjust the hotels. My mother got us a room for Tuesday & Wednesday instead of Wednesday & Thursday, and contacts my cousin to book us an additional night up in Newark. Everything is going great!

Yesterday, we go to book our train tickets from London to Newark, and all the credit cards get declined, "suspicious activity" is what we are told. I don't have any credit cards, and have planned to pay for everything in cash, so this is no big deal, but my parents and one brother start calling the credit card companies to get everything sorted out. I say, we'll just buy the tickets at King's Cross before we get on the train.

Last night it was also last minute packing for my parents and one of my brothers. I packed myself and my little brother's bags last week. I can't stand last minute franticness. My mother decides to bring a shit-ton of stuff, and had asked me to help her pack. I finally lost it, and said "You are not going to wear all of those clothes, I'm done helping you," and walked out of her room. I had to babysit over night, and when I came in at 4:30 this morning, everyone's bags were packed and set up in the kitchen, ready to go to the garage at 3:00 to be prepared for the limo to pick us up.

Fast forward to 11:00 today. I picked my mother up from her school, so that we could go to the bank to take out cash. I'm heading back to her school, and suddenly have to poop like I've never had to poop before. I tell my mother this, and figure, we're right by the school, I can make it there and back to the house and be fine. Well...My mother gets a phone call from my little brother's high school; he was in 1st and 2nd period, but missed 3rd & 4th. I call and then text him, and he calls me back "I'm so stupid. I was hungry, and my friends were going to get food, so I left school with them. Now they aren't going back to school, so I'm walking." I asked him where he was, and U-Turned to pick him up. I get him, and it's me, my mother, and him all squeezed into the cab of my little baby pick-up truck. He told us his story, and that he didn't want to miss school because he is going to miss the rest of the week for our trip. And I drive him the 3 blocks to the high school. We watched to make sure he walked in the building before pulling away. At this point, I could barely hold on to keeping from pooping my pants (actually I'm wearing a dress, but whatever). So I told my mother I had to go home, and Dad could take her back to school. We also agreed not to tell Dad ANYTHING about the phone call about my little brother not being in school. I got home just in time to get to the bathroom. CLOSE CALL.

I swear, this is going to be just as crazy, if not crazier, than "National Lampoon's European Vacation." I'm hoping to get some internet access so I can update this diary while I'm over there. Because I know it's going to just get better. AWEFULSOME

So how was the trip....?

I survived...Almost didn't get let back into the states once we landed in Chicago though. More on that at the end of this...

Everyone got upset when we landed in London, because the signs for the train I wanted us to take into the city were not seen anywhere, so everyone got upset and then we got on the tube, and it was extremely packed. So, mother was pissed she had to stand on the trip into Earl's Court. Then we had to wait to check into the hotel, and instead of going to the super cheap and busy fish & chips shop a few doors away, my mother made us go to the big, fancy, expensive pub down the road. When we finally checked in, it was a room for the 5 of us, and everyone took naps. I woke up quickly and wandered London with my dad, and 5 hours later, we went to the cheap fish & chip shop down the road for my mother's second requested fish & chips of the trip.

Wednesday we met our cousin from Belgium. My mother wanted to do the double decker bus tour, but my cousin wanted to just walk and chat for a bit. So, we went to a nearby park, and then made our way back to King's Cross, where we could not get on the tour, because the next one wasn't for 2 hours. I had plans to meet another cousin, so I did not want to do the tour. Mother was all upset we did not want to do the tour, and took it out on me when I made it back to the hotel that night, after I had done a Jack the Ripper tour (SOMUCHFUN!!!) with my other cousins.

Friday I planned on staying at our hotel near where the wedding was to be, so I could decompress and get some homework done, so that is what I did. Had the room to myself, and pretty much just slept all day. Sunday, we made it into London and to the airport easily. Then, we had to take a shuttle to our hotel. My mother didn't look at the exact hotel, and we took the wrong shuttle to the wrong hotel. She proceeded to get pissed off at ME (I was in charge of transportation into London, to the town where the wedding was, back to London, and then to the airport. She was in charge of getting us to the hotel) because we were at the wrong place. 1 hour later, a taxi FINALLY arrived to take us to our hotel (she thought it was a free shuttle, but it wasn't, and we had paid for round trip from airport to hotel. So we called a taxi to take us the 1.5 miles to the CORRECT hotel). She was pissy the rest of Sunday night, and would not accept that she made the mistake.

We got to the airport Monday, and knowing how much time we had to get to the gate, she almost missed boarding, because she decided she wanted a last minute cup of coffee, and made it to the gate just before they closed it. Once again, she blamed it all on me (because I left them and did my own wandering around the duty free area). Prior to landing at O'Hare, it was announced over the intercom on the plane that any produce from England could not be brought into the country. They made the announcement at least 4-5 times, plus several more times on the walk to Customs. As we were checking in at the machine that takes your picture now (really? they stamp the picture, not your passport!), a customs agent and her dog came over, and the dog started going CRAZY over my mother's bag. She had 3 bananas in her bag. "I was going to eat them on the plane, and didn't," was my mother's response. So, we ALL (all 5 of us) got a special note on our pictures, and we were questioned by the first Customs Agent (who did the stamping) about why there was a note. He asked my mother, when it was her turn, what she did for a living, and when she said she was a teacher, the customs agent started laughing. So, we made it through that, and got our luggage, and we have to go to a separate area, where our bags are all individually searched. All this, due to my mother's bananas.

I am NEVER travelling with my family again. This was all just too much.

Then, I started my new job on Tuesday, and realized it was a call center job, not the legal position they told me it was when I interviewed. I spent Wednesday and Thursday just sick to my stomach, and was crying in the bathroom, and on the drive to work. This morning, I quit. Now, it's back to the grind to find a different job.

Not a vacation update, since that is over, but just a life in general update...

I quit my 3-day old job on Friday morning, and went to school to search and apply for a new job. 15 resumes later, I applied for all of the paralegal/legal assistant/legal secretary/receptionist positions in the area. I have not yet told my parents I quit the job, I'm spending this next week leaving in the morning, and going to the library or school to apply for jobs, and visit my girlfriend who is on bedrest until she had her third child. After I quit my job, the heavy weight on my shoulders just disappeared; no more nausea, no more wanting to just cry. I felt so much better.

Yesterday was graduation, and I walked the stage with 3 of my classmates in the program. I did not tell my family I was going to walk, because earlier this year, when I joked about having a graduation party, I was told that an Associate's Degree is not a real degree. So, it was just me, and my school family. I would not have had it any other way. After graduation, I spent the afternoon with one of my best friends from school, as we celebrated with her family and friends her completing the degree. It was such a great night. Then, as I was walking in home from her celebration, I received a phone call from a local law firm, to set up an interview for tomorrow, working as a paralegal in corporate law. After I share the interview information with my friends, I realize it is where one of my classmates works. She warned me against it, so I will take the interview tomorrow as a practice interview, to prepare for (what I hope will be) additional paralegal position interviews!