I returned from a great time in Florida on Monday the 18th, scooting through Atlanta and Dulles just in front (or was it behind, or between?) a bad storm system. If I had picked THIS weekend to go, I'd probably still be at an airport, somewhere.
I haven't flown since, um, 2004, when we flew to Vancouver to go on an Alaskan cruise. At any rate, not since all these "security" measures were put in place. It was surprising how difficult it was to find specific information on the TSA website about what you could carry on the plane. For instance, I wanted to know if prescription drugs needed to be in their original bottles? Because I keep mine in those one-day-at-a-time dispenser thingys. The answer is no, if you're wondering. I got all flusterpated when I left Ft. Myers in the wee hours, all the people in the security check-in line kept edging me ahead, and I didn't put my laptop in a separate bin, and I forgot to take my shoes off, and then I laid my boarding pass in the bin with my coat, and thus had to be "patted down" while in the scarecrow position, I mean really, you could see my boarding pass there on top of my jacket, but after it went thru the Xray thing they wouldn't let me pick it up to show that yes, I actually was trying to get to Morgantown WV on purpose, until I had been searched. Sigh. I got up at 2:45 am to get to catch a 6 am flight. Once I struggled into my way-in-the-back window seat, a nice lady got in the aisle seat and then disappeared completely when the 400+ pound man came and sat? or crammed? into the center seat. Waaay too much infringement on my personal space. I can only hope the lady in the aisle seat survived and went on her way, since I certainly never saw her again. Maybe she wondered the same about me. Xanax to rescue, and claustrophobia more or less vanquished.
I haven't been back to Florida since 1983, when I went to visit my folks in Ft. Lauderdale with a three-year-old, a two-year-old, and a plaster cast with steel pins through it on my left arm. Have you ever had to change diapers in an airplane john with only one arm? Anyway, I am glad I went in February, the weather was perfect, the sky at dawn and sunset and star-studded night were glorious, and the company was well worth the effort. I missed my friend the minute I left her, we still had so much catching up to do. I can count on the fingers of one hand the number of times we have gotten together in the 40 years since I graduated from North Miami Senior High.
Here we are:
Not bad for a couple of old broads, huh?
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