There was some unrest and discontent expressed by my reader base regarding my latest post. Evidently I promised to discuss my visit and failed to follow up. Allow me to correct this. :)
Flying has changed since the last time I was out and about in 2004. I didn't know my husband and son couldn't go all the way to the gate with me. I didn't know I'd have to take my shoes off. I had to remove my belt too as it has a Texas sized metal buckle from the Calgary Stampede of 2005.
The flight there was uneventful. I got an aisle seat and the guy next to me, forgive me for saying, was a bit of a dork. First he waited until after I sat down to ask to get up to take an ice cream to his wife. He must have smuggled the ice cream on board. I was really nice though cause I don't mind if I have to get up. I used to fly with an infant (our son) to take him to visit his grandparents so anything is easier than flying with a baby or toddler. Okay, he sat down again and opens the top on his ice cream and all these nuts fell out all over him, the seat, and the floor. He fussed a bit with it and I pretended not to notice until I could no longer ignore him. Then I said, "We can't take you anywhere, can we!" And he laughed and said he needed to get up. So I moved into the aisle so he could get up, trying to keep my rear end from touching anyone. Those seats and aisles are so narrow. He goes to the trash, comes back, sits down. Later he had to get up to go to the restroom too.
The flight back was more interesting. At security I did have to take off my sweatshirt which was a drag because I had to carefully hold down my top underneath so I wouldn't flash the airport people, and my hair was completely messed up. This time I was 10th to the last person on the plane. It was a full flight and nobody wants you to sit by them. There is literally no eye contact going on. The flight attendant was a hoot and said, "People boarding, if you see a seat, take it. It's probably yours." And she said we weren't marrying the person next to us, it's just a two hour flight so sit down. She was funny.
Lucky me. The lady I chatted with earlier had an open seat next to her and an old man was in the other seat. The bad thing was I had to put my camera backpack two storage units after my seat. I really stressed about getting my pack and off of the plane and the situation loomed quite large in my mind but then the reality was it was no problem at all. A tall man reached over and got it for me and handed to me so easily.
We never did ask each other for names, my next door seat mate and I. I'd guess she was my age, small, kind of scruffy if I say so. Scruffy in not a bad way but such that looks did not appear important to her. She had a pixie cut that was grown out. She drew my attention because she was going to Albuquerque from San Fran to deliver some things, wood, for making flutes. She seemed interesting to me. She was unmarried and no children. She, it turned out, was voting for Nader. He's a write-in candidate. Her housemate is an anarchist, she explained, and I listened intently. We talked about oranges and bananas and she said the guy who convinced Americans that they should eat bananas was a serious genius because now bananas are shipped all around the world. She only ate locally grown food.
Since I asked her who she was voting for, I just had to know since I knew she lived in San Francisco area, she asked me the same. I told her and she asked why. I was silent for a good minute then I said I don't know because suddenly I worried that I might be on a plane with a person who might get loud or upset. I might be all wet about that but thinking of altercations in planes in the news lately I figured I didn't want to be one. She knew I just didn't want to talk more about it and she was very kind. I did say Sarah was a godly woman earlier. She asked me about what our son was for Halloween and I said we're not big on it but sometimes he goes and dresses up as long as it's not an evil character, and she asked what he went as last year and for the life of me I couldn't remember. I told her about when he was a cockatiel once and how I made his outfit.
My son picked me up in a souped up red sports truck. I didn't know that's what he drove. He's ten minutes from the airport. He was handsome to my eyes. He's 6'1". He kept telling me I looked good and I was embarrassed, but I felt good. My weight is down a little and I think it's a good weight for me. It's from all the dancing. We got to his home and his wife was on the sofa with the BABY! She let me hold her right away and a couple tears tried to make their way out of my eyes without permission. The baby is so small. She's put on two big pounds and now weighs all of seven pounds at age one month.
I cooked albondigas one night and they liked it a lot. She asked for the recipe so I think she really did like it. We went shopping and I bought my daughter-in-law some scissors and notions and fabric to make the baby a Halloween costume and it was so fun to buy purple fabric for a princess dress. I slept terrible the first night, then real well the next two nights. The strangest thing of all was I was comfortable with them. They were, seemed, surprised that my visit was so short. But I cannot stay gone too long. We missed three homeschool days with me gone. My younger son got sick and woke up the next morning and cried because I was gone. Shucks. It's good to be loved. I didn't know he felt that strongly about me. One afternoon my eldest son looked deep into my eyes, all serious, and said, "Ma, you know you're always welcome here, anytime, and to stay as long as you want, right?"
I did not dispense with advise or opinions. I helped out some, though not a tremendous amount. When the baby still cried in my arms my son took her and fixed her up and gave her back to me. I have never been great with babies. My son, I think he's going to be a good father. His wife, I think will be a good mother. I was impressed by their relationship. In my mind, my son, I remember the things he did which annoyed me so much when he was growing up. Those nuances of teenager-hood and young adulthood have disappeared. Where have they gone? I guess being 30 years old, wanting a family, now having one and knowing the immense responsibility of being the head of a family has erased those annoying teenager attitudes. His driving is fast but sharp. He is accustom to city driving. He showed me how to check in with the screen at the airport. I didn't know how to do that. When did it change that he should direct me and not me, him. He has a sureness to his step that I have not seen before. I felt a great sense of security that he was with me. How did that happen?
It's a process. Individuals either grow up and mature, or they don't. He has. He did. I am so proud. I am so proud. Perhaps when I thought I was too strict with him those years when he was young is not such a bad a thing as I thought. I did it because I feared he would grow into a criminal like his biological dad who has a rap sheet as long as my arm and this I do not exaggerate. My husband of 24 years changed our lives for the better. God knows.
The old man sitting on the other side of me in the plane on my way home was going to visit his great niece who was a colonel in the Air Force. She paid for his flight. I thought he must be well loved for his family to ask him to come out. He seemed almost Asian but I don't think he was. His breath was not unpleasant. His hearing was sharp. He said that they hadn't exactly told him why he was going there but he was expecting bad news about one of his relatives. Alzheimer's I think it was. He said to me, time changes things. And I agreed. Time changes things.
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