We left Stockholm early in the morning on Monday April 13th, and made it home without too much trouble. At Arlanda Airport in Sweden, they claimed we didn't pay to have Reese go with us on the plane, but the Woman eventually said "We'll let her go, but next time you'll need proof of payment". Very nice. We got back into the U.S. into Chicago, I collected all of our bags, while Kristy went and got Reese. Everyone and everything made it back to the good old USA intact. Phew. So we take Reese to a designated area where the TSA agent would take a look at her, and take a look at her kennel. He takes her out of the kennel, and we ask if there is anywhere to take her so she can go to the bathroom. He points me through some doors, and outside. He even tells me where I can get some water for her out there. So I take Reese outside while Kristy stays with the TSA agent and the kennel. Reese takes a whiz, and we go back into the airport. That's when I notice all of the DO NOT ENTER signs on all of the doors. I see a podium off to the side where there is an agent sitting. I go over to her and ask her how I get back inside. "Once you leave, you cannot re-enter" she says with her gold teeth gleaming in the light. I have Reese on the leash, and I explain to her that I was instructed by the TSA agent to come out with Reese, and he never said I would not be able to get back in. This woman, with smarts equal to that of a Nerf ball, grins and says again "Once you leave, you cannot re-enter". At this point I'm not sure what to do, and I'm annoyed. I tell "Nerfie" that Reese's kennel is inside, that she needs to get to her next flight, and that they are waiting for us to return.  "Once you leave, you cannot re-enter" is all she can say. She also tells me that I have to go to Terminal 1 and ask them how I get Reese to where she needs to go. We are in Terminal 5, and Terminal 1 is at the opposite end of O'Hare. I would have to take Reese on the tram to get there, it would probably take us a minimum of 20 minutes, and who knows what they're going to tell me when I get there. I repeatedly plead my case, but I'm met with a stupid grin. Obviously the only prerequisite for this job is the ability to sit, and a loose grasp of the english language. I'm looking through the glass hoping I can get Kristy's attention, or that of the TSA agent, but I can't even see them. At this point, Nerf informs me from behind her little podium that I'll have to go wait behind the ropes with the rest of the people waiting for passengers to arrive. At this point I'm pissed. But I go behind the ropes with Reese, and make sure I'm right next to this woman, so I can bitch in her ear. She's made no effort to try and help me out, and almost seems to get some enjoyment from my anger. As I'm standing there, here comes a guy telling Nerfie that he wants to speak to a supervisor. Since nothing can be easy with her, she asks "why he wants to speak to a Supervisor". This aggrivates him, and he responds "because I want to speak to a Supervisor". She explains that she needs a reason to call a Supervisor, and he says "um, how about customer complaint". After she calls for a Supervisor, I mention that I'd like to talk to the Supervisor when he or she gets there too. At this point, I think something clicks inside, and she realizes that maybe she should have done something to try and help me out. She starts making a call. About that time, I see Kristy go walking across inside, and I try to get her attention. She doesn't see me. She goes back in the other direction as I try and get her attention again. One of the TSA agents inside the door sees me, and tells Kristy that she thinks I'm trying to get her attention. As she see's me and starts coming towards the doors, I start waving her to stay inside the doors. As soon as the doors open I repeatedly yell to her not to come outside the doors. She continues to walk towards me, and the doors close behind her. Nerf finds this amusing, and laughs a little. I tell Kristy that I can't get back in, and now she probably can't. Nerf tells her  "Once you leave, you cannot re-enter", and Kristy starts to argue her case. Fortunately, the TSA agent that sent Kristy out sees what's going on, and goes to get her Supervisor. Shortly after, a woman comes through the doors and almost scolds Nerfie for not letting us back in, explaining that we had to get our dog back to her Kennel. Nerfie's just doing her job, but Nerfie also needs to learn about being a little more proactive. After that, every little thing annoys me. We've been traveling all day after sleeping on a couch cushion bed the night before, so it's no wonder I'm irritable. But the stupidity and rudeness of others certainly doesn't help my mood. We send Reese off, which is really hard, and head towards our Terminal. We run into a very friendly United employee, who improves my mood. But all of that quickly changes when we get to our gate and find out our flight has been delayed a couple of hours. As we sit around waiting, it gradually gets delayed a little bit more. We finally start to board, and of course you have to deal with the idiots making a wall around the gate, carrying three pieces of baggage to take up all of the overhead space, etc.  And then, of course, you get to your seat, and watch others board just praying that you don't get stuck next to some wreck of a human being. I felt fortunate that I think I ended up as the only person with an empty seat between me and the dude sitting on the aisle. That feeling of good fortune gradually changes as I realize I have annoying people around me anyway. Some guy that continually cleared his nose and throat. And the guy next to me that repeatedly tried to suck every last drop of moisture out of his can of tomato juice. Finally we get back to Minneapolis, and my sister Debbie is there with my nephew Mekiah, and they already have Reese. It kind of bothered me that they were able to just take Reese, but at the same time, Reese was safe and happy to be with Debbie and Mekiah. I realized that Reese was giving Kristy and I the cold shoulder, probably because we made her ride in the airplane. She eventually got over it. It felt good to get home, get a majority of our stuff unpacked, and get some clothes in the wash. As soon as I sat down to sort some of the smaller stuff, I lost my mojo, and it was time to go to bed. Needless to say, after three months (and six months in Kristy's case) on a thin mattress on a cement floor, our king size sleep number bed was a little slice of heaven. It feels good to be home, and I think Reese is happier than anyone. Kristy and I still wish we were in Stockholm, but we are happy to have the comforts of home, and look forward to seeing our family and friends. The next day we would do our taxes, pick up the boxes that we had shipped home, and settle in a bit more. The day after that, it was back to work for both of us. I'm looking forward to getting back into the routine of work, and settling back in again. Not working for three months should have been a slice of heaven for me, but I really did get a little bored near the end. Due to some circumstances out of my control, I was not able to accomplish some of the little projects I had planned, but that's OK. A couple of weeks after we get home, we're off to Puerto Vallarta to see Kristy's family.  That will be nice.