The third funeral

First my father. Then my aunt - who was another parent to us. Now my paternal grandmother. The three are done and hopefully we will go a long while until another person dies.
Our grandmother lived in Chicago and Katie, Stephanie, Grace and I were elected to attend the funeral as representatives from this side of the family. I didn't ask Patrick to go because I knew he couldn't, I just told him we were leaving for the funeral and I would see him when I got back.
Because it was such short notice, we had to decide whether we would pay the extra money to fly out of ABQ or drive to Chicago. I wasn't really up for driving 1300 miles with a baby in the car, so we decided to figure out a way to make this cheaper and faster. We found airfare flying out of Denver to Chicago that was very cheap and decided that a 6 hour drive to Denver was better than a 24 hour drive to Chicago.
The morning we were to leave for our flight out of Denver I decided to get an oil change and rotate my tires just to be safe. I take it to the place I usually go and am told that they can't rotate my tires because they are bald. To make the situation even more interesting, I needed a complete alignment - which was what caused my tires to go bald in the first place. The place that did my oil change didn't work with tires so I had to go home and call places that did, hoping that somewhere would have the size tires I needed and could put them on in a two hour period of time before we HAD to leave for Denver. Of course, only one place had all 4 tires in stock and could do an alignment, and of course, the tires were the most expensive and best quality tires on the market. Had it just been me driving, I would have waited and taken care of this when I got back from the funeral. But because I had two siblings and a baby in the car with me, I figured it was better to take care of it all then. I set up the appointment making sure they knew I had a deadline and as soon as I got off the phone with the tire place, my mother calls to tell me that she doesn't think that Stephanie's school photo ID will be enough for her to be able to get on the plane in Denver and that I need to go to the Division of Vital Records and get a copy of her birth certificate. Frustrated beyond belief at this point, I race over to get a copy of her birth certificate and then race accross town to have the tires changed, almost 45 minutes after I had told them I would be there. To their credit, they get my car in as quickly as possible and with me standing over them try to have the car done by noon. Katie, Stephanie and Grace get into town around 11 and I tell them the situation and that they should go eat lunch, I'll meet them at the house as soon as I'm done. The tires and alignment are completed by 1220 and I pay the exhorbitant amount of money (which had been discounted significantly from the original price I was quoted and was still enormous) and raced back home. Seneca dropped them off, put their suitcases in the car, they piled in and then we sped off for Denver. Because we didn't actually get out of town until 1245, when we had planned to leave at 1130, I knew I had to make up time on the highway. Pulling out the radar detector I raced up to Denver doing 95 to 100 mph.
We made it to Denver, barely. Of all the parking lots at the airport, only the one that happens to be the farthest away from the airport is open. We get to it and wait for the shuttle, which once it picks us up, takes 20 minutes to get to the terminal because the bus can only do 15 to 20 mph. I'm anxious, Grace is soaking wet and Katie and Stephanie look like they would gladly be anywhere but there. We get to the terminal at 710, our flight leaves at 740. We check in (they don't need Stephanie's birth certificate), convince them that we cannot carry our luggage on the plane with us and that it has to be checked and then run to security (where Katie is stopped because she forgot to take her lighter out and put it in her checked luggage), race to the train that will take us to the gate - by this time it is 725. The train takes us to the B gates and as we get out and run to our gate, I remember that I haven't eaten all day. As we pass by various food stands I hear my stomach kick into high gear and grumble. We get on the plane right at 730. Then, of course, we sit at the gate for 20 additional minutes.
When we finally get to Chicago, it is 1140. Our aunt picks us up. This is also the aunt who we will be staying with while we are in Chicago. This aunt lives in a "friend's" home as a roommate. Our aunt tells us that while we are staying at this woman's house, we can make no noise - the roommate is a light sleeper, Grace can't cry, the cat can't be let out of the house and can open doors, the house isn't baby proof and there are a lot of stairs, Stephanie is sleeping on a couch, Katie, Grace and I are taking our aunt's bed, while she sleeps on the cot downstairs. Oh, and by the way...the roommate comes into our aunt's room to do her makeup every morning. I figure, what the hell, it's only a couple of days, we can do this.
We get to the house, the roommate is sleeping. We go into the kitchen - floor creaking the whole way - and sit down to eat something. Grace cries because Katie gives her to Stephanie and the cat goes crazy. Katie trips over it and it starts chasing her around the kitchen biting her. The roommate wakes up and comes into the kitchen. We gather up our things and go to bed, but not before my aunt tells me that after we shower in the morning we need to squeegie the shower doors because the roommate doesn't like water spots. I go to bed.
The next morning, I hear my aunt come into the room to get her belongings for work. A short while later I hear the roommate come into the room to do her makeup. The next thing I know, the roommate is standing over me and tapping my head...hard. I wake up ready to kill the woman when she proceeds to tell me that she thinks the cat has gotten out of the house and would we please look for it. Personally I think "hang the cat", but not wanting to make the situation bad for my aunt, I nod and go back to sleep.
That night we rented a car and moved into a hotel.