Better Half Airborne in a Nick of Time

I just returned from dropping off my wife at Logan International Airport for her annual trip back home to stay with her parents.  Since the kids are all out of school and the house she can now do this during the dry season in Panama (December to March) which is so much better than the rest of the year - think rain, serious rain.  She's been bouncing off the walls for the last couple of weeks getting ready.  Yesterday she purchased two new suitcases with some early birthday gift cards.  This of course led to more packing (see earlier post of weighing baggage and attendant canine fury).  We decided on a quiet night together yesterday because we've found these separations, which were so much a part of our lives during my military career, have become progressively more difficult to tolerate.  Our plan was shot to pieces because of repeated phone calls from friends and family, all welcome, although the last one, around 11pm after we'd already gone to bed was stretching it a bit.  My wife was telling me all along that the flight was scheduled to leave at 7am so we planned on getting there at 5am.  This necessitated leaving the house at 4am and getting out of bed at 3:30am.  I woke up at 2:33am and was convinced we were late until my wife reminded me we were getting up at 3:30 not 2:30.  Apparently the cosmos was trying to tell me something.  The flight was actually scheduled for 5:45am!  We arrived at the airport at 5:10 and followed our normal procedure where I drop her and the checked baggage at the curb and then go park the car while she checks in.  When my wife gets stressed her command of the English language somewhat deserts her and she relies on me.  For this reason I was pleasantly surprised, after my initial horrified shock, to learn that when she was told she missed her scheduled flight that she had already been put on the next flight which would arrive in Miami in time for her connecting flight to Panama.  A good experience with American Airlines - who thought that was possible!  I hurried her to the security line and then for the first time did not wait for her to see her go through.  I told her it was too tough to watch and she said she understood because it was tough for her to see me watching while she went through this.  Seems as if as we get older the maudlin factor goes up - what the hell I can admit it; I'm really going to miss her.  I drove home and hung out with Buddy until it was time to leave for work - the house already seems very empty.