The Flight Home to Seattle

It was to be a late night when we were to get into Seattle after our scheduled departure at 3:55 pm from Reagan International Airport in Washington DC. Only our scheduled flight from Reagan was already cancelled when we checked in at about 1:30 pm. We were soon rebooked on another flight, this one via Atlanta for a departure at about the same time. However, as the time grew near, we were first informed that it would be delayed and then, "flight cancelled"! Again we were rebooked, for a later flight that same night; the passengers milling about grew restless. Was an uprising about to happen? (I was reminded of the spectacle of all those women (who were lucky to be chosen by one of us Zimmermen) who staged that "foot down" strike at the classical Z-pose picture-taking session a few days before. See picture series on side-bar.)

Would this lone male representative of the Z clan who happened to be here on this fateful day be able to help quell what seemed certain to degenerate into a war of some kind?

But I was premature in my worries; ultimately, the "last flight of the night" was also cancelled (all late arrivals and cancelled flights were due to heavy weather in and around Washington DC).

It was definitely better to be waiting on the ground that to be tossed around in an airplane battling tornadic winds and sheets of rain! We were rebooked on "the earliest available flight" the next day -- leaving Reagan at 11:55 am.

The Grand Mother and Grumpy decided early on NOT to call our recent host and hostess. They had already made four (4) trips between their estate out on the inner Maryland peninsula and Reagan airport. The distance, although about 40-50 miles, was secondary: the traffic was the worst Grumpy has ever seen! At least, the traffic in Los Angeles, which was usually bumper-to-bumper, moved -- at 60-70 mph! Gulp!!

We finally arrived home at about 6:30 pm, tired, sweaty, stinky and sleepy (after spending 18 hours lolling in the airport at Reagan). We had missed a much-anticipated re-union lunch with some old friends. But we looked forward to arising early Saturday morning to go watch our youngest son play left-center outfielder for his softball team. More about that in a later post.

Disorganization in the Z Ranks!! Oh my!!!

To adequately describe the mayhem that occurs when you get this many mostly-male Zimmerman's together with the women who were lucky enough to be chosen to be included into this famous (it does not start with "in-"!) clan, one must use pictures. As the reader may recall, a serious rift developed in the neat order (basements, workshops and other "special" places) which unusally prevails in the lives of a Zimmerman-led family. This rift represented in the photo above, was led by none other than the Grand Mother herself, ordinarily an obedient helpmate to the Old Man of the clan, Grumpy.

Other people shown in the above photo are, from left to right: Patricia and Sabrena, and Peggie, to the right of the Grand Mother. The observant reader will note the belligerent expression on the face of the Grand Mother and the attentive and obvious sympathetic attitude demonstrated by Peggie. It is all too obvious that collusion is going on.
The next photo shows the complete breakdown of discipline -- each of these fortunate (for having been chosen by a Zimmerman man) females having their feet firmly planted off of the designated log, thereby preventing the taking of the traditional photograph. The facial expression on the Grand Mother together with the sassy look on Peggie's face tells the whole story of the extent of this rebellion.

. This sequence of photos show the heroic effort required of Grumpy to squelch this untimely revolt. It is believed that these lucky (for having been chosen by the Z-men) women have learned their lessons and will henceforth exhibit proper respect for and obedience to their respective husbands.


Now, taking a look at the next photograph, taken shortly after the women staged their daring rebellion, the reader will observe the disorganized positioning of the younger Zimmerman boys; it is apparent that they have taken up the traitorous stance premiered by their Great Grand Mother. The boys are identified, from left to right, as: James Michael, Dalton, and Aiden, being restrained by his papa from complete, open revolt.

Now, there may be some among the readers, who will question why I didn't identify all the men in this picture. Well, as Grumpy became aware with the birthday card he got from Ray: "The Difference between Men and Boys" .....(opening the card) ... "Is Age; and You are Obviously no Longer in the Latter Class." So Grumpy decided to distinguish between those who can easily be identified as "boys" and those who, although many of them -- nah! all of them --, act like children at times, are otherwise definitely in the "man" category.

Anyway, to satisfy the curious, the men in this picture are: Grumpy, Howard and Ray. It may be that Joe, who isn't in this picture, joined the rebellion instigated by the Grand Mother.