A girls' weekend in Ireland: Adapting when plans go awry

Well, my plans for a girls' weekend with Bronwen had been in the making since the start of September, so for over 2 months I had been looking forward to spending some quality adult time with one of my best friends and her little family, while Thomas spent some quality time with Margaux (and experienced life as I do when he goes away for work or pleasure)!

The schedule was that I would take a plane on Thursday afternoon to Dublin and get a bus up to Belfast, while Maria (my helper) stayed with Margaux all day. Thomas would then take Friday off work, so he would be alone with Margaux until my plane touched down on Sunday afternoon.

All of that took an unexpected turn when Thomas woke up feeling very ill on Thursday morning and scratching all over, leading us to believe he had chickenpox. It turns out he didn't, although he was still very unwell and generally stayed in a cocoon over the weekend.

We discussed various options, including me going as planned, leaving Margaux because she would be infected now anyway, and me not going at all... and then Bron suggested I take her with me. So it was... our girls' weekend acquired another girl, and I was in fervent packing mode to get Miss Maggie organised for 4 days away!

We made it to the airport with just enough time to check in and run to our gate... only to find, once we were through security and customs checks, that the plane was delayed by over an hour. Poor Margaux! She was bored witless within about 2 minutes, so I let her run (crawl) loose as much as possible, even though I knew the floors were filthy.

Eventually, we made our way to Belfast and were warmly welcomed by Bron, Jonathon and Flynn 8 hours after we left home!