Turns out I’ve got 71,000 skymiles. You need 25,000 for a “sky-savers” round-trip ticket. So… two tickets, anywhere in the continental US, for a nominal service charge.

It also turns out that my 95-year-old grandmother is in the hospital. This makes the fourth (?) time in a year, and this time she ended up on a respirator.

Long story short… I decided to bag work for most of next week and fly out to see her. The earliest I can fly is Monday, and the “nominal service charge” comes to around $85 thanks to short notice, but it’s still better than the $1500 alternatives.

Once I decided to fly, I realized I still had a ticket coming to me. So I’m flying my brother Randy out from LA. Yeah, I have to pick up HIS service charge too. And I’m renting a car. And I’ve talked our youngest brother, Bill, into driving down to the DC area from Ithaca, New York.

I spent the evening pulling this together, and logistically, it’s pretty slick. I hate traveling, but I’m GOOD at it. And fortunately, that skill is good for something. Assuming Grandma survives the next two nights (and it’s looking pretty good on that front), all three of her grandsons will visit her on Monday night and Tuesday.

We’re either saying goodbye, or saving the day, I’m not sure which. It has no bearing on whether or not we travel, really. This lady RAISED my two brothers after our father died, and she was in her 80s. She paid off the mortgage on the home our parents “left” to us, and then refused reimbursement when we sold it two years later. You know how Grandmas will slip 20-dollar-bills to you when Mom and Dad aren’t looking? Well, this sneaky old lady managed to drop $30,000 into each of our pockets.

Seems to me that even if I DIDN’T have the skymiles, this flight is the least I could do. Hang on, Grandma. We’re comin’.

–Howard