My Little World Traveler

After work last night, I picked La up from school and we walked over to RJ Grunt's. I don't know why we've never been there, because the food is pretty good, prices are cheap, it's kid-friendly, and it's right in our neighborhood. The occasion? La's last evening with me before spending a week in AZ with her dad.

We sat at this perfect little booth that can only seat one person on each side. It was special. I took a picture of La:

... And she took a picture of me.

After dinner, we headed over to the airport to pick aunt M up!!! It's so great to have her back! There were so many stories that we had to sleep over at Aunt M's place so we could hear them all. 

Although Aunt M loved Honduras, she is happy to get dressed without first inspecting her clothing for lingering cockroaches.

This morning, I drove up to Milwaukee with La. My Aunt Sharon and Uncle Doug go to Scottsdale for a week every year, and they were gracious enough to offer to take La with them on their flight. Of course, that was BEFORE today's experience with La on a plane. Who knows, La may have to hitchhike back home.

Their flight ended up being delayed two hours. Right before their plane finally boarded, La decided that it would be a good idea to try to CLIMB the side of the countertop where the flight attendants check people in. Of course, I noticed this while she was in mid-air, crashing to the ground. She landed on her back and knocked the wind out of herself and somehow carved a huge dent into her cheek. Which bled all over the new light pink shirt she was wearing. Oh, and she screamed at the top of her lungs for a good ten minutes. Those are some mighty, mighty lungs. I'm sure the people around us were tickled that they would soon be confined to the same aircraft as her.

Oy.

After the nice flight attendant brought her some ice (which she refused to put anywhere near her bleeding face) and cleaned up all the brochures that La had inadvertently knocked down along with the brochure holder that had previously been mounted to the countertop, it was time to say goodbye.

And La cried. Again.

But, I plastered a smile on my face, gave her a tight squeeze and a high-five for being such a big girl. And when she turned around and all I could see was Addy Walker's face peering out of her gigantic backpack ... That's when I dropped the facade and started bawling.

I stared, teary-eyed, out of the window as they boarded the plane. I scrutinized the ground crew to make sure they seemed confident that the plane was okay to fly. I strained my eyes and peered into those dinky front windows to assess the pilots (how do they see through those tiny little portholes?). I pondered how anything comprised of so much steel could fly through the air. I suddenly had a thought that I hadn't had since I was a child: THIS FLYING THING IS CRAZY. Here we are cramming more than one hundred people into a tin can like sardines, fastening them in with an ordinary seatbelt, and hurdling them through the atmosphere at immense speeds, trusting that they will come back down to Earth safe and sound in a precise destination at the prescheduled time. 

Yeah. It's a SWELL idea until it's MY little sardine inside that tin can.

I found the window where La was sitting and caught her attention. We waved at each other until the plane pulled out to proceed to the runway. I watched as the tin can sped down the runway and defied gravity right before my eyes. I stood gazing at the plane for a few seconds until it disappeared into the clouds, a mere speck; A little girl already miles and miles away from her mama.

And now I'm sitting at my computer at home, tracking their flight on FlightAware.com ... 

They're over New Mexico in case you're wondering.

After I get the call that she's made it to Phoenix, I will flip the PsychoMom switch to the "off" position. Or at least try to. I'll let you know how that goes.