Lee Alan Phillips

Lee the soldier
He served in the Vietnam war

Lee in full uniform with the Air Force

Many years ago!

A Beautiful Meaningful Military Funeral

Yes, it was a beautiful, meaningful, military funeral for my brother Lee. It was held today at 1 PM. My sister told me all about it and I hope to see pictures and videos soon.

Wednesday I left home at 7 AM for the airport. Boarding time for my flight was 12:30, heading first to Dallas, but instead of boarding, they announced that it was cancelled because of stormy weather in Dallas. We had to go back to the ticket counter – a very long walk - to reschedule. I finally arrived at Dallas around 7:30 PM, only to find my flight to Tucson cancelled. The airport was a zoo with very long lines, very upset people, and even though they tried their best to act nice, very harried workers.

They had me call at a rebooking booth, where I spent about an hour – it seemed like much more – trying to find a flight to Tucson. Some of the suggestions as to what I could do:

1. Drive to Tucson – “Do you drive, ma’am?” YES, but not 14 plus/minus hours at night!
2. Take a flight to Phoenix the next morning and take a cab to Tucson. I found out later that Ric (where Becky has been staying) suggested I do that and someone go get me. And even later I found out that the funeral was 2 hours southeast of Tucson, so if I had done that, I wouldn’t have made it to the funeral anyway, since Phoenix is about 1 ½ hours NORTHWEST of Tucson! I also found out – later – that there are shuttles from Phoenix to Tucson – I guess the lady on the phone didn’t know that.

The man in the booth next to mine was also trying to get to Tucson. The option they gave him was to get a Friday flight! He hit the ceiling – hard! But I think he finally took it and was looking for a hotel for his wife and him. Second honeymoon?? I doubt it!!

Finally I told the gal just to find me a flight back home to Mexico! She did, for 9:30 AM Thursday morning. “Can I just stay at the airport?” I asked. “Of course. They can’t kick you out, can they?” I wasn’t sure if they could or not – I’ve never done this before!

By now it was well after 10 PM. I called Elaine telling her I wasn’t coming, then called Alan who wrote an email about my adventure. I headed over to TJI Fridays and had a nice big grilled chicken salad. As I was finishing up, Keith Wilson called and asked if I’d like a real bed to sleep in. He and Carol had read Alan’s email and realized they could help! I know CAM is in Dallas, but I wasn’t sure how far people lived from the airport, and didn’t have any numbers anyway! Keith arrived at midnight, we made it to their house at 12:30, up next day at 6 to leave at 7 for the airport again. Not a long night’s rest, but a nice night’s rest! And it was so nice to visit a little bit with Keith and Carol. Thanks so much, guys!

The last time I took such a fast trip to the States was one of those “border trips” we used to have to make every six months. As a family, we were SICK of them. So one time we drove to Laredo from Puebla, got us a Wendy’s meal, and drove back across and home to Puebla! We didn’t even stop at the grocery store!

I arrived at 12:15 to Mexico City, took the bus directly to San Juan at 2:40 and was home by 5:10. What is that, about 34 hours to go to Dallas and come home??