Hooray! I'm here!
Eternal thanks to A., who calmly talked me into getting on the damn plane, despite my buckets of tears and near hysteria. Eternal thanks, too, to Voicestream and to cellular telephones!
Yes, that was me in JFK Terminal 4 Wednesday evening, carrying on in a very undignified way. I cried solidly from the first boarding call, to about ten minutes after take off. In fact, I was crying so hard they let me board the plane early. And then I was fine. It wasn't so much fear, as a deep sadness for the people aboard those other planes, you know, in September.
So the presents are wrapped and under the tree, we've made some mincemeat tarts for Santa, and my mother has calculated that this is the first time in 15 years that my sister, both parents, and I have gathered for Christmas. More later...