There was a minor snowfall in Chicago on Saturday afternoon. When I got to the airport an hour and 15 minutes before my flight was due to leave, I found out it had been delayed an hour. I could have spent another hour in St. Augustine or gone out to see Fort Matanzas or spent more time on the beach. But still I was better off than my coworkers who had been at the conference with me. They were rerouted to Detroit for a couple hours.
I’d had a long, stressful day. I bought a McRib at McDonald’s and ate it slowly while watching the gulls that were walking around on the glass roof above my head.
Then I went to my gate and watched awful cartoons for a while. A woman sitting a few seats down saw me take this photo. Then she walked over to where her husband was sitting and told him. He got up and walked by like he had somewhere to go, then stopped and took a sneaky look at me. He then walked back and sat down next to his wife. I heard him say, “I didn’t see it.” To which she replied, “He must have put it back in his bag.” They didn’t need to be sneaky. I would have shown it to them if they’d asked.
Southwest Airlines flight 2365 was delayed another 25 minutes, but it finally took off at 8:15. I found a seat on the aisle in the third row. I said to the woman by the window, “If we pretend like we know each other, maybe nobody will sit between us.” We piled our stuff on the seat and acted like we were acquainted, even saying a few words now and then. It worked. There were 18 empty seats on the plane and one of them was next to me.
Our flight attendant had one of the funniest pre-flight speeches I’ve heard. Among other things, she kept referring to the two male flight attendants as her ex-husband and new boyfriend.
When she brought the drink service, I asked for something diet and caffeine free. She brought a Diet Sprite with orange juice, which she referred to as a virgin mimosa. It was tasty, and when she came by later, I asked for another. Then I asked her to pose with the chair. She agree, but when she turned around and faced me, she started feeling silly. I just happened to take the photo at the perfect moment.
