looks like we'll be able to make our flight!

okay we're at the airport in Orlando. after much stress and hearing the flights from Orlando to Dallas were later and later AND Todd finally calling us back and saying WHY AREN'T YOU AT THE AIRPORT TAKING CARE OF THIS.. ummm cause i thought that was your job!!! Then he goes on to tell me we will never make our LA flight if we wait to take this delayed flight to Dallas. our only hope is to see if American will put us on another airline. and that he said was only a 50/50 shot. great thanks for the vote of confidence! well the long and short of it is American agreed -- without any qualms! -- to put us on a non stop on United. at first they suggested a flight thru Miami then on to lax but i said nooooo. so we suddenly .. after 6 weeks of planning this trip, found ourselves running to throw all the luggage into the car, get dressed and head to the airport. the woman from American calls me back and says just as she was about to book us flights on United, United's system went down.  anyway we get to the airport, and i get our new tickets while Jeff parks the car and tries to manage the mess called our luggage. we meet up at United to find they do not honor the same rules as American. if any bag is over 50lbs we have to pay. well they're all over 50lbs!! but wait i cry, Cathay allows 70 lbs. too bad i hear back. so we decide to take our chances and proceed to check in. we get the mother of all things unholy and mean. when i tell her our original tix were on American and they did courtesy passage for us, she looks at me like I'm saying she has horns growing out of her head (which no doubt she does!) then she weights the first bag and it's a measly 53lbs. she complains we should have dealt with this before approaching her. so we drag all our stuff over to the side and weigh and re-arrange and re-weigh and finally decide we'll have two bags over weight but so be it! we get back in line and I'm totally plotting to snub this he-man, evil meany, no heart ticket agent... but luckily Santa Claus beside her takes us instead. we explain our ticket situation. no problem he cheerily says. he weighs our bags. it's 6o something pounds. he confesses they'll allow up to 52 lbs before they charge so why not reshuffle again and try to get all the stuff into one bag and only pay one fee. and he says take your time and do it right here. so we pull the luggage apart and weigh and move and re-weigh. we get three suitcases at 52 lbs and one just under the max of 70 lbs. i think we may have dropped a few things along the way as I'm not sure how we even managed this feat. but we paid a somewhat reasonable fee  and happily check our bags. Jeff and i were downright giddy at this point. no matter we haven't even made it to the plane we were just so happy for this tiny kindness. we skip over to security where of course we're flagged. those one way tix get you every time! no problem. we happily endure that. . so here we sit enjoying our tiny respite. our flight to LA is in one hour. we arrive in LA at 9:30, hours before our departing flight. I'm just so happy to make it this far!