I Wish I Were My Dog

Watching my beautiful dog-girl Sasha sleep, and snore like a train, brings me incredible comfort these days. She is almost thirteen in human years, and she leads a life I covet. She owns three plush beds, distributed in strategic places around our house, so she can chose where to crash at different times of the day.

Moreover, due to this year’s harsh Floridian winter, she has been sporting a light pink sweater that reads, “Weekends are my favorite.” That print is what prompted me to write this blog because indeed, her life is an endless weekend.

How I wish I were Sasha! If true, I would had been oblivious to my mother’s phone-wrestle-match against the airline Avianca. It started on Wednesday morning and ended on Friday evening.

My mom has been in the US since December 2019, and as millions of passengers around the globe, she had to cancel her return flight after the pandemic exploded.

As glimmers of hope rose with the Covid-19 vaccination efforts in America and elsewhere, she decided it was time to go back and check on her property in Colombia. So, we set out to book a flight on the Avianca website, following the instructions of the last email the airline sent to her. According to this communication, she had a $300 credit.

What they didn’t tell her is that in order to redeem that credit she would have to endure 60 hours of anxiety and distress. If I didn’t know better, I would think this was a clear challenge for the effectiveness of her hypertension medication.

Even though computers and I are mortal enemies, and I am not the savviest internet person, I am completely sure that the “Change your flight” link on the web was deactivated on purpose.

I believe the airline wants to force people to call the customer service line, in hopes that several buyers will give up after hours of wait, book a new flight, and forfeit their credits.

However, Avianca doesn’t know the strength lineage of women like my family’s. We stayed the course and exhausted every way of communication. Forty-eight hours into the quest, my mom received a text message from an Avianca rep asking, “Are you still waiting?” The nerve!

Twelve hours later and countless text messages back and forth, the rep was able to apply the credit to my mom´s account. I honestly think at this point a higher power intervened to save us from oblivion.

As I write this blog, I am in the car outside an outpatient medical center waiting for my husband. He is getting a GI test done, and off course, due to Covid-19, only patients are allowed inside the building, even though a driver is mandatory for the post-procedure.

What kills me the most is that I can’t hold my husband’s hand during his recovery from anesthesia. In the past, he has performed the best stand-up comedy act to the delight of doctors and nurses.

I am sipping a $5 Starbucks coffee that I bought inside a store; I had to stand on my feet because, also due to Covid-19, all chairs are on the tables, blocking the sitting area to paying customers.

I am a law-abiding citizen, and try my best to follow the local pandemic rules. But the millions of abuses committed by government and private sector entities on consumers, all in the name of Covid-19, are troubling and discouraging.

Thank you for reading.

Xiomara Spadafora

P.S. I have a credit with Celebrity Cruises since June 2020. Stay tuned for my phone-wrestle-match once the CDC allows sailing.