D-day Today

The morning is quite normal. Emily’s plane leaves after dinner so she went to work. I am going to Belize (surprise) and have a red eye about same time as Emily does. We can share a ride to the airport. We will both have fun though I believe I have more of a potential for such. My sister and her friends are going to Belize and arrive about 10 minutes after me. I hope to greet them at the gate. They do not know I am coming. I think this is a nice surprise. Can’t wait to see the response. It will be glorious.

So I went to work. Not early again. But, I had to go. The client from Tuesday, you may remember, was coming back to sign up for a major tax plan. Or not. Well, I met him at 1030. He complained more. Just like Tuesday. Then he signed on the dotted line of the engagement letter. And signed on th line on a check. Yay. After 18 months of dancing around the planning he has committed. And 18 months of pissing and moaning too. I have incredible patience. I amaze myself. But, this is proof of the saying patience is a virtue. And hard work is its own reward. Though I will get paid. After taking care of this, I went home.

I stopped at the post office. I am trying to find a shipment sent from Poland. There is no electronic tracking of packages from Poland. I had to go old school and ask a postal clerk for a manual search. Turns out the clerk found it. Returned to Poland for insufficient address. No Polish jokes allowed here. Though they would be fitting. And insensitive. And most likely funny. I went home and emailed the company and gave them my address. Again. We can only hope.

So I’m home. What are we doing? Cleaning the house. Emily’s idea of pre trip fun. Isabella will be living here while we are gone. She used to work at Pet Smart and she is taking care of our geriatric crew of pets. Isabella is the same age as Marika and is an old friend of hers. We have known her since they were in grade school together. So we are cleaning for her. The house ended up spotless. No shock there. I also had time to clean my car, inside and out. And wax it (hey, I left work real early). Then Emily said I am driving us to the airport. And leaving this newly cleaned car in long term parking. Where it will get dirty. Pain in the rear.

We left for the airport at about 515. We did park in long term parking and a bus showed up immediately. We split up at terminal A. Emily to Maine. Me to paradise. When I got to the terminal I found out the usual, plane will be late. American Airlines at its best. My buddy Doug flies for them. I need to call him and complain. It really has little effect on us. The pilot put the pedal down and we made good time. I got to my gate by 930 for an 1140 take off. Plenty of time. I have a bag of snacks so I made a dinner of salami and cheese and Parmesan crisps which I dumped on the floor. Not on purpose. Satisfying and delicious. Emily packed the food.

So here I sit. Waiting for 1140. Phoenix airport is very boring on a Thursday night. Glad I brought food because all the vendors are closed. All I can do is read or stare into space or sleep. I will stay awake so I can keep an eye on my stuff and not miss my flight. Seems like a good idea.

They just called the flight. I will be boarding soon-ish. I am in boarding group eight, back of the plane, so I go on last. Makes no sense. Why not board back to front. Seems faster.

I am in the back, in the dark, in a center seat. I hate all those things. I like an aisle seat near an exit. But last minute, and cheap, tickets come with sacrifices. I would like to go to the restroom but I’m blocked by the drink cart and the lady in the aisle seat. And she is asleep. I should get the aisle just because I get up three times a night to go to the bathroom. Four more hours to get to Miami. Plane travel really does suck. I need the time and money to be able to go by ship. I like that idea. I would have to go South around the Cape to go to Maine. The trip would be an adventure. I can dream.

Please, dear God, get me to Miami soon. Safe and sound as well. Thank you. There was some horrendous turbulence on takeoff and for 15 minutes as the plane climbed out of Phoenix. To my benefit, I did not throw up. Or cry. I held on very tightly. I think it helps. Helps me. When I was a kid I loved all things air travel. But as I have gotten older all that has been replaced by worry. And I have come to loathe what I used to love. I thinks it’s actually quite sad.

Another thing to love about sitting in a metal tube hurtling through space with a hundred strangers is the air. Or, the recycled air, inside the plane. Lots of nice airborne viruses are available for you to pick up. The gal next to me was sneezing for the last hour of the flight. Great. Hey, lady, if you’re sick go to the hospital. Don’t go to the airport and share your nice germs. This is not the kind of sharing we learned about in kindergarten. I have picked up my share of germs from plane flights. At least I believe I did. Sometimes there is too much coincidence for it to be a coincidence. I am hoping the gal next to me was not sick. There was a strange and strong odor in the back of the plane. Could have irritated her nose. Or maybe she stank. I’m off the plane so I’m past caring too much.

Miami airport is cold as hell. I don’t like it. It’s 86 outside here and 40 in the terminal. Ok, I exaggerate. It’s 50.

So I have rolled yesterday into today. I gotta end this here. And restart