Bright Southern sky, hot and sticky already at 8am, I set sail in the Emerald Hornet, (the Green Olds) and head out to the airport with my girls. We are at the half way point, 30 minutes into the trip, and my missus gets her coupon bin out, and goes to work. She has turned into a coupon clipping, money saving machine! She finds great sales every week. The beauty in this is that at often times, she will find a great set of steaks, tender, and just right, and then gives me credit for grilling them up nice. What a gal!!! This morning she grabbed her list, and had her window down slightly, and swoosh! Her list was vacuumed out of her hand, straight out of the window! The look on her face, was one of a woman that had just lost a winning lottery ticket for a couple of thousands of dollars! It was priceless. I was praying hard that she was not going to ask me to turn back, and go after it. She looked back with a smile on her face and said, it’s on the antenna! Thank God for the decision to take the older car, with an exterior antenna. It wrapped around the antenna, and I was able to pull over so she could retrieve it.
Well we got to the airport, and baby girl wanted to lug in my suitcase. It’s as tall as she is, and was probably almost as heavy, and with the exception of the steps, she made it all the way. She was cheerful to help daddy with his luggage, but a little saddened at his leaving. Well the eyes welled up on daddy first, and mama took baby girl out to the car after daddy had a chance to kiss her whole face. I cried at the check in area, just before going into the gate, but was able to refrain long enough so my little one, and wife could not see me. Mission accomplished, I am getting worse with each departure, however! They just don't get any easier I said to the family from our local town. We consoled one another, as we cried, and said our good-byes.
On to the gates! I was greeted by a not so hostile airport security agent, that instructed me place my items on the belt, and told me that my laptop didn't need to be turned on, and the phone was good in the bin beside it. The gentleman on the other side of the gate was not as friendly, and asked me to go back through the gate until my bags had cleared. I hustled to the gate where my plane was docking.
I surveyed the lot of potential passengers, and started to pray, and sort through the good and the bad. I prayed that I would not be stuck next to a rude snobbish person, or someone just not easy to sit next to on a flight. Seasoned fliers know where I am coming from. You don't want the kid that can't be pleased, or the snoring old dude with no teeth, or the Howard Hughes that can't sit far enough away from you in his seat, of the overly friendly, that can't get close enough and uses you as a pillow! Did I miss any? Well as I sat waiting I noticed a few "can do" people, and a few "Lord please no," people. The lady across from me talked on the phone quite a bit, but had a friendly smile. OK she seems friendly enough, yeah she qualifies, as a good flight neighbor. Wait though, what if I get stuck next to the man and his son over there? He’s talking about shooting pigs, and gun models with an 11 or 12 year old. He smiles and seems friendly enough, but perhaps too friendly, and he’s a gun fanatic, and talking openly about it at the airport, please Lord, let me sit far from them. Not every gun owner is a terrorist, but not every terrorist comes in brown, or wears a diaper on his head either, as some would stereotypically think either. Speaking of stereotypes, here comes a lady with money written all over her, and she doesn’t look a bit friendly at all!!! There’s the old guy who snores through the whole flight, nope! A young woman that’s shy, and looks uneasy, not her either, please… Well they have called my zone, and it’s time to board. The ticket agent (collector/whatever they're called) took my ticket, and she was very nice, very professional. Thank you Ms. Ticket Getter.
Now to find my seat... OK I have seat 2F, and there are only 4 seats ranging from A-D… I am supposed to have a window seat, oh joy, the hateful lady is in my seat! She had 2 E. She said I have E, but I may be in the wrong seat, but it doesn’t matter to me… How could I ask her to move? I couldn’t! Wow what a soft putz! She didn't say much, and it was only a 25 minute commuter flight, so what's the big deal right? She read a magazine for most of the flight, and turned out to be pretty cool. She yawned and I said, “It’s too early for that,” and she said, “I know right?!” She has to be a young 50, and used the term “I know right.” I guess a fella of apparent African and Latin descendants having a Southern drawl was not the norm for her either, but nonetheless a good flight. God blesses me with humor to get me through the homesickness. Look out CLT here we come...
