Full circle

The other day I got joyous news. American Airlines, that paragon of good timely service at discount prices, informed me that they had found my bag. The suitcase that I put on a conveyor belt in Chicago one month ago and never saw again. I mentioned this before in this post.

What happened was this: I was flying from Dublin to Dallas via Chicago on August 19th, and I was required to re-check my luggage in Chicago. I did. One of my suitcases was never seen again. American Airlines was extremely helpful, at first. I was actually quite impressed with how gracious they were being to me on the phone, until I realized that 1) they had no choice but to suck up after losing $2000 worth of my stuff and 2) the gracious and serviceable helpers were probably just sitting on the other end of the line with their feet on the desk eating Doritos, pretending to be shocked and sympathetic.

Once the claims process began, I started to suspect that not only were they not really listening when I spoke, they were at that moment rifling through my makeup bag looking for good expensive stuff to keep. My only consolation to this was that no one else this side of the Atlantic wears the foundation tint called A Whiter Shade of Pale, nor is it likely that they consider Blistex Mentholatum lipstick. And I do. And the pashmina shawl is fake, so there. The point is, I was told that my bag was gone for good, and they would only replace up to $600 worth of my belongings, according to their discretion. Eventually, I called them about something, and I was told that they have my bag, and it will arrive to me on Wednesday. Tomorrow, people.

I'm not sure what to do. I haven't seen my things in so long, I don't even remember what it all looks like. What if it's awkward? What if too much time has passed and we have nothing to say to each other? What if they resent me for trying to replace them? I can only hope that at that blessed moment of reunion there will be no time for such questions, only joy, because I will have enough underwear to last me a full week.