Straying

Multiple times during my childhood, I woke up to find a stray dog in our house. It was kinda fun. It was like a Christmas. Only we usually found the rightful owner and gave the stray back. However, It happened enough times to not really be surprising after a while. It was one of those things that we knew our mother for.

After a while, my sister and I started bringing our own strays home. Whether it be dogs, cats, or friends. My mother happily welcomed them in. We always provided a little love and sent them on to where they needed to be.

Last night I think I took the stray thing a little far. I brought home a client.

I got a last minute shoot for yesterday. I knew the client would be flying in for the day to meet up with me. She was so nice and we hit it off right away. It ended up being pretty fun day. It was hours of photography. I photographed 8 loft apartments, the amazing roof top lounge, and some other little spots...all over looking the best part of downtown LA. It was a long, day but I got lots of great shots. We caught a little dinner and then headed back up to the rooftop for sunset...awesome! It was so dreamy up there. Then we went back to get some extra shots of some lofts.

It was around this time that I asked my client how she was going to get back to the airport. She figured she'd catch a cab. Now, her boss had set up this trip down here. He had booked the tickets and set himself up with a ride, but apparently had forgotten to make any arrangements for her. She only found out about this as I walked in that morning. At least he could have let her know or scheduled a pickup from a cab for her. Just a courtesy I would think.We had photographed up until 9:30 and I wasn't going to leave a girl downtown to fend for herself. It's just not fair to do. Of course, I offered to take her.

Exhausted, we headed towards the airport. That's when she told me that her boss had booked her on a 10:30 flight out. I'm sorry but for someone that flies as much as he does, he should know that you need at LEAST 2 hours to get through LAX. You can't just drop in and go. We screeched up to her airline one hour ahead of time.We said our goodbyes and I pulled away. I knew there was a possibility she wouldn't make it on board. Knowing this I decided to stay close by. I was down the street getting some gas when she called to tell me that they wouldn't let her check in. She was told that the gate was already closed (even though she still had 45 minutes) and she would have to figure out another way to get home. Then because of the long lines she was told to move on. It was pretty shocking how she was dismissed. Of course I couldn't just leave her there. I picked her back up. In the mean time she had called a million hotels and had finally gotten a room at the Hilton for $300...crazy! We pulled up to the hotel and she told me to take off, she'd be fine. I waited for a while to make sure she got the room and when I thought it had been long enough I took off. As I pulled away, something told me to wait, but it had been so long that I figured she was checking in. Turns out that in the time it took us to drive the one mile to the hotel, they had given it to someone else. It was pretty shitty. I was already half way home at that point. It had taken her that long to stand in line.

Between Mario checking online, her calling and me driving around, we weren't able to find one hotel room in the area within a half hour radius. Between the Lakers playing int he playoffs and a big convention, there were no hotels available. at. all.

I finally told her she would crash on our couch. It sounds ridiculous to sleep on someone's couch you had only met that day. There were just no other options. I felt so bad for her. We were both so exhausted, but I at least had a bed to go home to. She was just stranded. Of course her boss and turned off his phone and hadn't thought to check if she had made it home. Her other co worker just told her she'd be ok. I just couldn't do that. I couldn't just leave her at the airport.

Mario was awesome and totally understood me bringing home my client. But I wonder if I've taken "bringing home a stray" to a whole new level. My mother never brought home complete strangers.

We finally got to bed around 2am. This morning she booked a flight our of our awesome local Burbank airport...way easier than LAX people! She's on her way and now we're packing to go camping.

.