Emily & Jackson got to take their very first plan trips this summer. I escorted them to Texas to visit their grandparents. Jackson was especially excited, but both were bouncing off the walls on departure day, from the natural stimulant of adventure. We had an early evening non-stop from GSO to DFW one Thursday in July. Julie drove us to the airport, and then i navigated them through the traveler's ropes of baggage check in, boarding passes, security checkpoints, boarding by zones, row numbers, overhead and under-seat compartments, tray tables, seat belts, drink carts, long waits to use the restroom, how to flush in said restroom, and baggage claim.
Jackson was thrilled with the acceleration g-forces upon takeoff. Emily wanted to enjoy it, but couldn't decide if she should be nervous and worried instead. Our only trouble on the flight itself was a bit of bickering about whether Emily's window would be open or shut, and the aforementioned bathroom waiting.
I tried to take Jackson as soon as i saw the flight attendants rummaging around with the carts, but the rear was blocked by a drink cart and we were suggested to try the first-class restroom. There, it too was blocked by a cart and also said it was occupied, so i ahem-ed the guy up there and asked if there was a 2nd one up-front. He met me wide-eyed, alarmed, and barked that i wasn't supposed to be up here. My first thought was that this was some silly class warfare thing, the coach intruder being shooed away. I stepped to the side to show that Jackson was with me, and that he needed to go bad. He repeated, still with urgency, that i couldn't be there, and should return to my seat. I said that his colleagues had sent me up here because the back was blocked. That's when he finally revealed that i was unwelcome not because i was coach-scum, but because he had the cockpit door open, apparently serving drinks to the pilots. That certainly was a better explanation for his alarm than what i had thought the problem was, so we dutifully went back to sit down. The crew guy later came back to apologize, not with an apology per se, but with a fuller explanation and a chummy pat on the shoulder. It's all good.
The kids behaved really well on the plane. In part because i promised that they could erase their 15 minute time-out to be enforced once they got to Poetry, as long as they were good on the plane. Quite the ingenious leverage, if i must say, although i admit it wasn't planned that way.
My brother Marty picked us up at DFW, accompanied by his two oldest daughters. That was a nice treat.
P.S. For the return flight, the kids turned into grizzled travel veterans. Jackson had already been promised the window seat, but Emily asked if she could have the aisle, leaving ol' dad in the middle. They both snoozed, so i had a little precious head pressed against each shoulder.
