After the session was over, our group split off to go to community groups (smaller groups, but each still had a couple thousand in them). Most of our group was in the same community group, but leaders were in a different group.
We trusted everyone would find their way back to the hotels afterwards which were a few blocks away.
Community groups were over around midnight. (We had now been awake for almost 17 hours of non-stop action and had yet to even see our hotel room. Plus, it was still drizzling and Aaron still had soaking shoes.)
We began the trek back to the Westin. I told Aaron to call the Sheraton and ask the front desk if we could have Amanda check in to our last room there so he wouldn't have to walk there. It was further past our hotel. He did.
That would be fine, they said. Now, all that was left to do was check in to the three remaining rooms at the Westin, one being our own room, and hit the sack.
Oh to be that simple...
First, we walked into the lobby at 12:30 to a line at the front desk 30 people deep.
Second, we got a call that a girl from our group had somehow gotten separated and was now lost.
Third, the line to the eight elevators at the Westin was ridiculously loooong.
I handed our poor lost girl on the phone to Leah.
Aaron was still in line.
I wanted to cry.
When he finally got up to the front, we ended up having to re-check in to ALL of our rooms. Which meant we now had to round everyone up that already had a room to get a new key.
Thank God, one representative from two of the rooms were already in the lobby eating pizza. And by a miracle for my own sake I think, the other room representative happened to walk past me on my way outside. I was going back outside, you see, because there was still the matter of a lost group member.
Aaron and I headed outside at 1:30am to try to give directions to someone when we ourselves were pretty unfamiliar with the streets in Atlanta.
It was still rainy, and also very, very foggy.
Aaron had the phone and I stood there. There were still hundreds of students making their way to wherever they were going.
I glanced over to where three police officers stood on the corner helping direct people and traffic.
"Excuse me, sir?"
A very nice officer proceeded to give us directions to give to the phone.
We finally caught sight of her a few minutes later.
It was now almost 2:00am.
Aaron turned to me. "You go up to our room. Get the luggage from Joe. I'll walk her to her hotel."
I didn't like the idea of him walking back alone, but I knew there were cops and people everywhere. Plus, I was cold and tired and sore. So I agreed.
I walked back inside.
You would think at 2:00am, everyone would be getting settled.
Not at the Westin.
The elevator line was insane. Oh, I wish I had a picture.
I was not about to wait in the lobby. I climbed the stairs to the third floor.
The crowd there was only about 15 people.
"How often does an elevator stop?" While I was not looking forward to climbing 46 flights of steps, I was not about to wait thirty minutes for an elevator.
"Every 10 minutes or so."
By another miracle, one dinged at that moment. It was going down. But, it was empty.
"Let's go down to go up," I said.
We all piled in.
We rode down to the next two floors taking in more people. I'm sure we broke all the elevator codes.
After a few stops, I was finally up to my floor 20 minutes later. It was 2:20am.
I called Joe, who walked our luggage down from the floor above.
I laid down on a bed for the first time in 21 hours. Ten minutes later, I got a call from Aaron.
He was almost back to our hotel.
"Ok, well, our room number is 4920. It will take you awhile to catch an elevator. Go up to catch one going down if you can. I'm going to take a shower, but I should be out in plenty of time to let you in the room (we only had one key)."
I hung up and took a shower.
No knocks on the door yet.
I unpacked our luggage.
Still no knock.
I ate some crackers.
No knock.
I laid out Aaron's stuff for bed.
Nothing.
It was now 3:00am.
It had been thirty minutes since I talked to him.
I tried not to panic, because I knew how bad the elevator situation was.
But about five minutes later, I had concocted all kinds of scenarios in my head, because that's just what I do.
I sent him about five text messages and started calling him.
Nothing. No answer.
He's probably on an elevator with no service.
I turned on Find my Friends on my iPhone. (An app that let's you track "Friends" with GPS. Aaron is my only friend on Find my Friends because I think it's creepy for anyone else to know where I am.)
Find my Friends computed for a couple minutes and finally concluded that Aaron Jack Bauer was in Atlanta, GA. Gee, thanks.
Almost 45 minutes had now passed. I called him again. And again.
I went over to the window, and finally my phone went off with a text message from Aaron.
"I'm on the 49th floor by the elevator. Come out here."
I grabbed the room key and ran out the door.
"Aaron?"
I called down the hallway.
"Whitney?!"
He sounded very flustered. "Where are you?!"
We finally ran into each other.
"What happened?!" I asked as he hugged me.
"I've been on this floor for twenty minutes but I couldn't remember what room number you told me! I tried calling but I have no service. I could finally get service if I leaned my head against the wall, but your phone wasn't ringing. (I had crappy service too.) So then I used the house phone by the elevator to call the front desk, but they wouldn't tell me the room number because of their policy and I guess they thought I was a creeper. I wasn't about to head down the elevator again though! And they finally tried to patch me to your room phone but you didn't pick up!"
"What?! The room phone never rang!"
"Well, I called it!"
We made our way to the room and went in. We then discovered that our room phone was unplugged. Un. Plugged.
"I HATE THIS HOTEL!" shouted Aaron as he threw his phone on the bed with disgust. He kicked off his soaking wet shoes that he had now worn for twelve hours.
"Me too!"
He started a rant, and I finally climbed in bed at 3:30am.
After he calmed down a bit, I sat up. "Well, at least the view makes up for it a little bit. Right?"
"Hardly. Also, do you want to get up in four hours?"
And then we laughed.
And then we slept.
We trusted everyone would find their way back to the hotels afterwards which were a few blocks away.
Community groups were over around midnight. (We had now been awake for almost 17 hours of non-stop action and had yet to even see our hotel room. Plus, it was still drizzling and Aaron still had soaking shoes.)
We began the trek back to the Westin. I told Aaron to call the Sheraton and ask the front desk if we could have Amanda check in to our last room there so he wouldn't have to walk there. It was further past our hotel. He did.
That would be fine, they said. Now, all that was left to do was check in to the three remaining rooms at the Westin, one being our own room, and hit the sack.
Oh to be that simple...
First, we walked into the lobby at 12:30 to a line at the front desk 30 people deep.
Second, we got a call that a girl from our group had somehow gotten separated and was now lost.
Third, the line to the eight elevators at the Westin was ridiculously loooong.
I handed our poor lost girl on the phone to Leah.
Aaron was still in line.
I wanted to cry.
When he finally got up to the front, we ended up having to re-check in to ALL of our rooms. Which meant we now had to round everyone up that already had a room to get a new key.
Thank God, one representative from two of the rooms were already in the lobby eating pizza. And by a miracle for my own sake I think, the other room representative happened to walk past me on my way outside. I was going back outside, you see, because there was still the matter of a lost group member.
Aaron and I headed outside at 1:30am to try to give directions to someone when we ourselves were pretty unfamiliar with the streets in Atlanta.
It was still rainy, and also very, very foggy.
Aaron had the phone and I stood there. There were still hundreds of students making their way to wherever they were going.
I glanced over to where three police officers stood on the corner helping direct people and traffic.
"Excuse me, sir?"
A very nice officer proceeded to give us directions to give to the phone.
We finally caught sight of her a few minutes later.
It was now almost 2:00am.
Aaron turned to me. "You go up to our room. Get the luggage from Joe. I'll walk her to her hotel."
I didn't like the idea of him walking back alone, but I knew there were cops and people everywhere. Plus, I was cold and tired and sore. So I agreed.
I walked back inside.
You would think at 2:00am, everyone would be getting settled.
Not at the Westin.
The elevator line was insane. Oh, I wish I had a picture.
I was not about to wait in the lobby. I climbed the stairs to the third floor.
The crowd there was only about 15 people.
"How often does an elevator stop?" While I was not looking forward to climbing 46 flights of steps, I was not about to wait thirty minutes for an elevator.
"Every 10 minutes or so."
By another miracle, one dinged at that moment. It was going down. But, it was empty.
"Let's go down to go up," I said.
We all piled in.
We rode down to the next two floors taking in more people. I'm sure we broke all the elevator codes.
After a few stops, I was finally up to my floor 20 minutes later. It was 2:20am.
I called Joe, who walked our luggage down from the floor above.
I laid down on a bed for the first time in 21 hours. Ten minutes later, I got a call from Aaron.
He was almost back to our hotel.
"Ok, well, our room number is 4920. It will take you awhile to catch an elevator. Go up to catch one going down if you can. I'm going to take a shower, but I should be out in plenty of time to let you in the room (we only had one key)."
I hung up and took a shower.
No knocks on the door yet.
I unpacked our luggage.
Still no knock.
I ate some crackers.
No knock.
I laid out Aaron's stuff for bed.
Nothing.
It was now 3:00am.
It had been thirty minutes since I talked to him.
I tried not to panic, because I knew how bad the elevator situation was.
But about five minutes later, I had concocted all kinds of scenarios in my head, because that's just what I do.
I sent him about five text messages and started calling him.
Nothing. No answer.
He's probably on an elevator with no service.
I turned on Find my Friends on my iPhone. (An app that let's you track "Friends" with GPS. Aaron is my only friend on Find my Friends because I think it's creepy for anyone else to know where I am.)
Find my Friends computed for a couple minutes and finally concluded that Aaron Jack Bauer was in Atlanta, GA. Gee, thanks.
Almost 45 minutes had now passed. I called him again. And again.
I went over to the window, and finally my phone went off with a text message from Aaron.
"I'm on the 49th floor by the elevator. Come out here."
I grabbed the room key and ran out the door.
"Aaron?"
I called down the hallway.
"Whitney?!"
He sounded very flustered. "Where are you?!"
We finally ran into each other.
"What happened?!" I asked as he hugged me.
"I've been on this floor for twenty minutes but I couldn't remember what room number you told me! I tried calling but I have no service. I could finally get service if I leaned my head against the wall, but your phone wasn't ringing. (I had crappy service too.) So then I used the house phone by the elevator to call the front desk, but they wouldn't tell me the room number because of their policy and I guess they thought I was a creeper. I wasn't about to head down the elevator again though! And they finally tried to patch me to your room phone but you didn't pick up!"
"What?! The room phone never rang!"
"Well, I called it!"
We made our way to the room and went in. We then discovered that our room phone was unplugged. Un. Plugged.
"I HATE THIS HOTEL!" shouted Aaron as he threw his phone on the bed with disgust. He kicked off his soaking wet shoes that he had now worn for twelve hours.
"Me too!"
He started a rant, and I finally climbed in bed at 3:30am.
After he calmed down a bit, I sat up. "Well, at least the view makes up for it a little bit. Right?"
And then we laughed.
And then we slept.
And that was our first day of 2013.
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