Airport Woes

Traveling on Wednesday should have been seamless. I mean, really, the last time I flew it was with two young kids and no Chris. This was cake (especially since I packed most of my stuff in Chris' suitcase so I just had one carry-on!).

Anyway, I got to the airport early (thinking that I would have to wait forever since I didn't have my stroller {which is a magic "ticket to the front of the line", fyi}. I breezed through relatively quickly and was making mental plans to have a burger at Chilis while I passed the time. I got the lady who had been at work too long and asked me to take off my cardigan. I looked at her and told her I wasn't interested in wearing a lacy cami without my cardigan on top. So she gave me a full body pat down...and was quite thorough. After, she said, "pull your sleeves down". After the frisking I had just received I decided to throw in the towel and take my cardigan off, and she said, "NO, I said your sleeves not your shirt. Am I not speaking English today or what?" I looked at her with wide eyes and she said, "no really, not sarcastic, am I not speaking English because clearly I am not communicating with you." Wow. Finally got past her and then was pulled out of the line as my purse had to be more closely inspected. I wasn't worried, I am always the random search. Always. Unfortunately for me, I forgot to take my swiss army knife off my keychain. {this would be the one I bought in Switzerland after my junior year of highschool with my friends, right before I moved across the country for my senior year. I was really sad as it's been a staple on my keychain for lo these many years.} She then pulled out my bottle that Leigh-Ann gave me when I had Jack. She had his name put on it and there was purell in there. She said that it was 6 oz and would need to be thrown away. At that point, I started crying. I'm really not proud of that fact, but I did. She asked if there was sentimental significance and I told her the whole story about moving before my senior year and that knife that I bought etc and that my friend gave me that purell when my baby was born. Then, my voice cracked. I am mortified just writing this down. She looked at me like I was completely an emotional liability. Since she found the knife she had to throw it away but she told me I could go find someone who dropped me off to give my bottle to. I just shook my head that no one was there. Poor woman, took my bottle, dumped the purell out, washed it out, then refilled it with her own purell as I sat there trying to pull myself together. As she handed it back and smiled, her kindness brought tears to my eyes...I said, "I know you see all kinds, I just didn't think I would be one of them." She gave me a nervous laugh and a pat on the back.

Geesh. Clearly, I needed some sleep.

The trip wasn't amazing. I was seated next to a woman with no concept of personal space (nor did she possess the ability to not rip 'em every two seconds...). It was a looong flight, that left an hour late. But, I was thankful that the kids weren't there. It was a problem free trip and I am OK a few hours short on sleep, the kids would have had a lot harder time with that. :)