O'Hare Drama

Oops, guess this post is a little more than overdue, eh?

The short version (which I've gotten better at telling over the past week) is that some time between curb checking our luggage and the security check point that couldn't have been more than 50 yards away I either got pick-pocketed or thought I had put my wallet in my coat pocket but didn't (the fingers aren't as reliable as they should be these days).

Once I realized I didn't have the ID necessary to get through security, I completely flipped out. Visions of not being home for Christmas slam-danced through my head. I ran around the area where I lost the wallet, checking in with ticketing agents, janitors/cleaning people (apparently referred to as "scrubs"), and other sundry official-looking folks, periodically checking in with Jody, who was looking through our carry-ons even though I knew my wallet wasn't there.

After virtually forcing Jody, Vi, and all of our crap through security, I took a breath and resigned myself to a few hours of looking for the wallet before returning to Wisconsin for another form of ID, driving back to O'Hare, and attempting to get on a stand-by flight. What a way to kick-off a vacation, huh?

I kept checking in with my folks, who were getting to know me by this point, just saying "no wallet yet, sorry" when I would approach them. Many suggested I check lost and found, and while I already had, I went back down to file a report.

As I was doing so, the woman behind the counter asked "Did you lose something, too?" (there was another person there filing a report).

"Yeah, a wallet."

"What did it look like?"

"Black with a devil on it...?"

"Is your name Bridget McCullough?"

"ZOMG!!!1"

The upshot was that the wallet was found by a scrub, sans cash but avec cards, in a restroom trash. I have no idea how much cash I had on me, but it couldn't have been more than $50 since I'm a plastic kinda gal. I really did not care in the least bit about the $$, I was just so glad to have my ID!

Essentially snatching my wallet out of the woman's hands, I sprinted back upstairs and to security. The TSA agent who knew me and my plight took me to the front of the line, where I called Jody to let him knwow that I had my wallet back and would meet him and Vi at our gate.

So that is that! I guess I/we were lucky to get out when we did because O'Hare was a total cluster right up to Christmas Day. Flying into Hartford was a mess as well and we narrowly missed having to fly to Bangor, ME on account of the weather. Yeah, good times.

The good news is that the week got much, much better from there. A merry Christmas, indeed. :)