This rollercoaster ride sucks, it's a lot more downs than ups and how come it's so straight???

   Ugg....this week wiped me out. Even the one giant piece of good news I got was peppered with bad news for someone I love dearly. It seemed United broke down and relented from the massive public outcry after their announcement of fee increases associated with a new policy that would prevent them from shipping pets as excess baggage, and now use a 3rd party cargo carrier. But just as many were getting ready to breath a sigh of relief, I was still holding my ever doubtful breath. I was still formulating plans.
   In other words, I was still being me.

   First the United thing, because so many of my friends and family have been genuinely concerned, supportive and helpful with this matter. A Houston newspaper ran an article, on Wednesday, that started the "rumor" that fees would be waived if the pets were being flown due to military PCS move and the family were "on orders". The article went on to say the discount would apply only to military service members and the change in policy came largely due to the online petition they'd seen, which had over 2,400 signatures.
   2,400 signatures!! You guys helped make that happen. My itty, bitty blog had a small part in spreading the word about THAT petition!!  Thank you, everyone who took the time to sign that petition. Social media made that happen! Awesome job! Definitely a high point of the week. 
   
     My small ray of hope came in the fine print on the left side of the article I linked above.

More Information

Flying Fido

Military families seeking exemptions from a new, higher price for transporting pets as cargo on United Airlines should call 800-575-3335 or 832-235-1541.All passengers still will be allowed to bring pets under a certain size aboard in carriers for a fee of $125. They will count as a carry-on item.

   

   IF, and at this point, its a big IF, we can make this happen our financial worries are over! As soon as we get our travel date (oh yeah, the other good news/up side: Mac finally submitted his travel packet! So now we're waiting to hear when we leave! FINALLY, I can't begin...well I could but that's another rant for a different blog, to tell you how hard it was to get this damned paperwork submitted. One person, in one office, 5 days a week but he's got other places to be. Meanwhile Mac's on midnights going in on days off or after working all night waiting....it was the world's loneliest game of tag for almost 2 weeks. Seriously, you'd have thought Mac gave this guy the clap after a one night stand the way he was dodging Mac's calls...unintentionally dodging his calls, sometimes it just couldn't be helped. Allegedly.) I can call United (or whatever airline we're ticketed on) and verify that we can carry on the cats. If we can, well then step 2 is to get a vet to look Arwen over and *hopefully* prescribe a mild sedative for her, so she'll be quiet in the cabin. Cause let's face it $250 is shit tons better than $3k, no matter how you look at it, even if you add a little for the cost to buy (cute) carriers. Plus they'd be with us! All we'd have to do is rearrange our carry-ons, so we can make sure we have Nixon's stuff to keep him occupied, our MUST have's at all times shit, and the cats.   

   Now the final up and down. One of my BFF's is also a military wife/former military herself. Her family is moving the same time mine is. It's so odd but awesome that we'll be close to each other again! Well, turns out, we might be a whole lot closer then we thought. Looks like her husband will be getting deployed weeks/months after arriving at the new base. She's going to look for a place between my family and our other mutual best friend, providing herself and 2 young kids a built in and understanding, supportive family structure while her husband is gone. So, sucks he's leaving again but (selfish) SCORE for us on major time together after so many years apart! 

   So mostly straight line this week, no real solid news but lots of speculations with possible relief. A couple of my bigger stress topics have addressed, but others remain. 

   Nixon and I went to the dentist on Wednesday. He got a good check up! He's got great spacing, lots of room and no build up issues. I just needed a cleaning, which I got done yesterday. So we're both set to go. Also, because I wasn't odd enough: I had 3 wisdom teeth pulled in 2010. Only 3 because, that's all that had grown in or even showed on xray. In other words, I only had 3 wisdom teeth...ever! Well, fast forward to about a month and a half after those were pulled and it felt like I had a new tooth growing in! But it was coming in where I'd just been told there was NO tooth to be seen. Mentioned it to the dentist, he says he doesn't see anything. So Wednesday, xrays check-up ask about the tooth/pain from after the wisdom teeth were pulled. Yep, you betcha...that tooth that was never seen before is now suddenly there!! From what the dentist I saw said, it's possible that after the 3 teeth were pulled it released room for the tooth to finally develop and erupt from the jawbone and come through the gums. Redonk, right?!?!