Waiting at the airport

I'm a seasoned traveller. But sometimes I even get it wrong like I did this very morning. My flight was moved to 6:55 am. Ugh. I am definitely not a morning person. So when I checked the website, I think my brain deliberately deceived me and instead of reading that the check in closed an hour before the flight, I read check in was open an hour before (though it was confusing on the site - my flight was marked as Air Canada and was actually a combination of UA and Air Canada but I only looked at Air Canada instructions to check in "at least" an hour before.

So my whole family got up at 5 to drive me to Edmonton International on unshovelled roads and blowing snow. A joyful highway trip of nearly no visibility and a truck or two flipped and left in the ditch.

Tried to check in. No luck. 5 minutes late. Check in closed. Any way to still go through. No. Immigration may be busy. I didn't see a queue, but who's to argue with the check in desk. And on top of that, she said I needed an ETSA so couldn't rush me in (I didn't actually need an ETSA so that made it even later after 3 other people had to clear it up)

Now this has happened to me once before due to a transit failure and I had to buy a new ticket. But that was London and this is Edmonton, so the girl behind the desk kindly moved my flight for free. Phew. A 7 hour wait but instead of sitting in Chicago for 6 hours I got to have a long leisurely breakfast with my family. Things always happen for a reason my mom told me. And she's right. 3 more hours with the people I love is worth any wait in the world.