Traveling Home

I made it home early am yesterday.   My inter kid self keep saying “Are we there yet?  ARE WE THERE YET?” 

My day started out as I got up Friday at 6am to get showered and make it for a breakfast at the hotel at 7am as the open up.  I always stay at hotels that have free breakfast, because our $30 a day for per diem just doesn’t really go too far when you are trying to eat healthy.  The night before I had talked with corporate office and they said that I was going to get home so I was really excited because I have been out traveling from the 19^th of last month.  I figured I was going to have to stay because I still didn’t have travel and I was originally thinking that I was going to have a 1120am dept.  I made a few calls and got my travel so I really didn’t have much time to pack and get my rental car gassed and returned.  After breakfast I rushed back to my room and packed all my stuff and it made my suitcase bulge for sure.  It take 2 trip to the car to get everything down.  I had to laugh, I tried to stuff my suitcase in the trunk and it just wouldn’t go so I had to put it in the front seat.  Darn Camaro, but it was fun to drive, just not practical.

I returned the car in will out any issue and made my way to the airport, SEATAC’s rental car return is about a mile from the airport.  The facility was being built when we were moving to Charleston area.  It is a nice and gives the rental companies the room they so desperately needed to grow. 

I am really out of practice traveling my commercial airlines because most of the time I drive or fly on our own planes.  I get to the counter and put my bag down the the scales and check in.  It bugs me that as a customer you should have to pay for checking in a bag.  That’s why people try to take so much on as a carry on and hit you with their bags as they walk down the aisles.  So I pay for the bag and get my boarding pass that the CSR freaks because my bag weighs 58 pounds.  I looked at him in this questioning look.  Airlines are such hogs, that 8lbs cost an additional $90.  When I was a customer service agent I would have just let it slip by, but back then it was 75lbs that was overweight not 50lbs.

I was glad that I made it to the airport 2 hours before my flight because the line for security took me a hour to get through.  I feel so much safer with the gentleman looking at my ID with a magnifying glass.  He was giving off the vibe of “I’m the gate keeper and maybe I will let you in or maybe not”.   I got past the gate keeper and now confronted the agent yelling orders to pull your liquids computer out and take off your shoes and such.  And yes I called him a “ agent”  not a officer as they would prefer,  they are not law enforcement so they don’t deserve being called a officer.   I make it out feeling like I’m a criminal, our government can do so much better than this! 

I can’t help but wonder as I am waiting in line who I will be sitting next to on the plane.  My bad side is like I hope they don’t spill out of their seat into mine because I have a window seat and don’t want to be squished into the wall like in the past.  I get seated and the couple sits next to me with a child that is one big lap child.  I was glad I had brought my ear plugs because that kid could scream.  So for 2 ½ hours I enjoyed reading my book in peace and quiet.  My next flight was nice because I didn’t have anyone sitting next to me, however I had these 2 younger ladies that got way goofy drinking.  I once again had to put in the ear plugs to quiet them.  I almost finished my book on that flight.  I am not a big book reader at all, but I have fell in love the this series of Fifty Shades of Grey. 

I arrive at JFK at 1130pm and get my bag.  I’m pretty tired, weird how flying makes you tired because is was sitting all day.  I get my bag and make my way on the train to Federal Way circle stop.  I was hoping that someone was in our office that lake because I really didn’t want to walk the couple of blocks to our office carrying my bags.  The last time I flew commercially they broke one of my wheels on my 58 pound bag and I really didn’t want to carry it a few blocks.  I was thankful that Pleasant answered the phone and he came and got me and dropped me off at my car.  He is such a sweet and nice person.   I drove a hour and made it to my 2^nd home.  It was such a nice feeling to pull in the driveway, just like coming home.  I got my key they left for me and went to my favorite room J  The Captain Brynne’s room as I call it when I’m there.  Its real name is called the Capt Reeder room.   By now it is 2am so I am pretty tired and ready for sleep.  The next day I had a wonderful breakfast and got myself together and headed out for my drive home.   It really was a uneventful drive home.  Halfway into the 12 hour drive I stopped for lunch/dinner.  I usually don’t stop but I thought I would try something new, I always feel like it is slowing the process up when I do that, but it was nice today to do it.  My next stop was at the border on NC and SC rest stop.  I really hate stopping at South Carolina rest areas because they usually are not clean.  As usual I was not disappointed it was way dirty, and this is a rest area that has a welcoming facility for South Carolina.  Not a very good way of welcoming people to our state for sure.  What bothered me the most is as I pull in there was so many stray cats.  The parking stall I was pulling into had these 2 scared cats cuddling up with each other.  They were so scared and pathetic, I just wanted to scoop them up and take them home.  The poor things, what kind of person would let poor helpless animals off at a rest stop.  I’m really not a huge animal lover, but I do have a heart and would never do that; but as a state why don’t they take then to a shelter so they can be adapted to a family that would care for them too.  Shame on you South Carolina!

I finally made it home at 130am on Saturday morning.  I was so glad to be home and my family warmly met me at the door, even though I was trying to sneak in quietly.

Do we know what people are thinking?

The other night I went out to eat at theTriumph Brewing Company here in New Hope.   We had excellent food and really good service that night.  The best part was the company I was with and the good time we had chatting with like minded people.  What got me thinking of this story was I was asked if I noticed the two younger people staring at me that night?  To be honest I didn’t notice but I also usually don’t notice things like that.  I think over the years I have developed a thick skin to stares as well as I just tune things out.   But it did remind me of what happened when we were visiting Tina’s mom one time. 

We went out to eat at one of Tina’s favorite places to eat when we visit her mom, its called Luigi's.   Their food it really good and the restaurant has a nice atmosphere as well.  While we are eating this couple came in and sat down across from us.  Like usual I didn’t pay much attention, but Tina did and said to me.  Do you see those people staring at us?  I started watching and saw that they were paying close attention to us for sure.  My first thought is are they staring at us because they perceive us as a gay couple, or because they have read me as trans, I really couldn’t tell but they were really intrigued with us for sure!  So I told Tina I’m going to get to the bottom of this and buy them a glass of wine and see if I can chat with them.  Tina was don’t you dare reward them for staring at us, if you do I’m out of here.  They are just going to make a scene.  Brenna our oldest was egging me on as well, so I orders them up some drinks J  Tina, Christa and her mom high tailed it to the car and Brenna and I went over to them to have a chat.  I was on high alert and was not going to put up with any crap, however I thought that I would be tactful to start with.  They greeted me and said thanks, but wanted to know why I was so friendly in buying them some drinks.  I said I saw you staring at us sense you got here and you looked nice and thought I would be nice.  Here is it got interesting, they said that they travel all over the country racing bikes and that they stopped at that restaurant because it looked like a nice one.  They said that they see lots of families out there but not many as nice as us and they couldn’t get over how well  our children behaved and how happy we were as a family.  I think the moral of the story is you can’t judge what people are talking about from afar, and you can’t let your own insecurities cloud into a judgment of what people are thinking or saying about you.