God Watches Out for His Kids....

....Even at the PDX Airport Arrivals zone !!

Ok...here's the story.

My daughter and son-in-law were coming back from a trip, arriving at the airport at a certain time. Their car was garaged at the airport, so they planned to pick it up after they arrived. I had their daughter, my granddaughter, staying with me until they got back, and the other set of grandparents had their 22 mo. old baby grandson in their care until they got back. My daughter and son-in-law asked we, the two sets of grandparents, to bring the children to the airport and meet them at the Baggage Claim/Arrivals zone when they got in. Not a problem. I've done that little routine many, many times picking up friends and/or family who are coming in from a flight from somewhere.  There's the drive-around business,,,,,you try to arrive at "about" the time they will have already gotten to the baggage claim area and meet them outside after they've picked up their bags.  Likely you will miss them first time around, or 2nd, or more, but, sooner or later you will see them and whoooosh! get your car over into the far right lane and Voila! -- get your party picked up.  It's way easier than parking and going inside the bloody airport....and you....and everyone else....is doing just that....driving around and around til your people show up on the sidewalk outside the baggage claim.

Of course, THIS little venture had a double whammy going for it -- due to the fact that we were transferring kids from Car #1 - namely "me and granddaughter" and from Car #2 - namely "other set of grandparents and that 22 mo. old baby grandson" - to their parents,,,,who would take them to Car #3.....because really, alllll they wanted to do at 7:30 pm was GO HOME with their family!  It had been five days they were away.

All this could have been a bit complicated.  Logistics.  It's all about the logistics.  Wikipedia defines "logistics" thusly: 'Logistics' is the management of the flow of resources, not only goods, between the point of origin and the point of destination in order to meet the requirements of customers or corporations. Logistics involves the integration of information,transportation, inventory, warehousing, material handling, packaging, and often, security."  And, certainly, I had thoughts along those lines.  "Resources:"  I guess you could call we grandparents "resources" who were involved in the management and flow of goods (we had the "goods" all right - two wonderful grandchildren) between the "point of origin:" Yep, baby grandson from the point of origin of one set of grandparents' house (while Mom and Dad were away), and teen granddaughter from the point of origin of the other grandparent's house. The idea being to manage the flow of those goods from the point of origin to the point of destination (the PDX Airport Arrivals Zone) in order to meet the requirements of the "customers:" who in this case are "Mom and Dad."  These "logisitics" involved the integration of information (that means lots of cel phone usage), transportation (that means Car 1 = one set of grandparents with baby grandson in tow; Car 2 = other grandparent with teen granddaughter in tow), inventory (that means keeping careful track of the "goods" in Car 1 and Car 2), and all the rest of it including warehousing, material handling, packaging, and yes, security.  LOGISTICS!

And then the puzzle. How do Car #1 and Car #2 meet up in this cuhrazy scenario with car after car after car lining up 4 to 5 rows deep across the lanes, and Lord only knows how many in a row/line coming up behind you.  How do we? 

Well, I hadn't counted on a couple of things.  And one of them, is how PERFECTLY things can go when GOD shows up.....and.....if you can suspend all disbelief and just.....BELIEVE.......God DOES have a sense of humor!

I pulled into the line near the 'Arrivals' doors for the airline my daughter and son-in-law were coming in on....and there they were, coming out of the doors. And I looked behind me, and immediately (did I say IMMEDIATELY? YES, I DID!) to my rear .... was Car #2 with the other set of grandparents with baby grandson in tow.  And about 25 to 30 cars behind them in the line.  I shook my head once, suspending my OWN disbelief, and my teen granddaughter, jumped out of the car, helped her Dad go get baby grandson, right behind me, and we all waved our love, and .........

That was That!

I laughed and shook my head all the way down the ramp and headed home.