It all started on May 25th. I, of course, hate packing for anything so, I woke up the day of my flight still needing to pack. I'm running around my mom's house looking for all of my clothes & shoes that ,in the last 4 days of being home, seem to have found new places to hide like behind the dryer, under her bed, in the boy's closet, & basically anywhere besides my suitcase. Great. I have to be at the airport at 10am & here I am running around like a chicken with my head cut off.
I finally manage to get my suitcase to zip, which is a miracle because I don't know how to pack light. This is my carry on that looks like it's about to burst open if slightly tampered with. Just to clarify how horrible I am at packing, I had to put clothes in the bag that carried my laptop. Yeah, it was bad. But everything was packed, I was showered, and ready to get on my flight.
I've never flown out of Indy before. I have been there to drop off & pick up family when they have visited, but whatever, an airport is an airport, right? And then my mother asks about parking at the airport. She thought she was going to walk me in & then hug me & tell me goodbye for over half the summer. No offense to my mom, but when she came to school to move my stuff out of the Sig Kap house, she made me cry then & all she did was hug me. I'm a sap, I know, but I didn't want to be crying while I'm going through security, so I told her she could pull up, help me get my bags out & then be on her way. No need for the water works so early in the morning.
Airports are interesting. It's a very good place for people watching, which I must admit, is a guilty pleasure. Some people are just so odd. It's usually better to do when you're wearing big mysterious sunglasses, that way no one knows you're people watching, but hey, I'm probably never going to see any of these people ever again, so commence the people watching. My favorite becomes this elderly woman who is sitting across from me. I don't know why, but I'm always amazed when I see people in their senior citizen years who have cell phones & laptops. I guess it's because I could never imagine my maternal grandparents ever answering their cell phone or Googling something. This woman's phone is blowing up more than mine & I consider my BlackBerry, even in the midst of our love-hate relationship at the moment, an extra limb. There's a half hour left until boarding & I think I'm fully aware of the life happenings of this woman's children & grandchildren.
First flight from Indy to Chicago Midway is not totally booked, thank goodness. Arm to arm with strangers can be awkward. There's a seat in between me, in my first choice of a window seat, & a man who's in his late forties in the aisle seat. It's about time to land & suddenly he's interested in where I'm going, where I'm from, my school, my major, "Oh, wow! An internship in NYC! That's great!", & just about everything besides what my blood type is. It always surprises me when random people start up conversation. Everyone now a days seems to be so reserved because of the crazy stories you hear about weirdo stalker type people & the lack of trust amongst the human race. I'm polite & ask questions in return so we're not just talking about me. Think what you'd like, but I hate talking about myself. He tells me about his kids & his wife of 16 years, who he's known since high school, but didn't start dating until they were both 26. "Do you have a boyfriend?" That's the question that startles me. Yes is my answer, which is followed by more questions about the boyfriend, his major, the long distance thing, how we feel about it, & how long we've been together. Construction management, we spent last summer away from each other it's just farther this summer, I'm bummed about this summer but it's good for both of our future careers, & a little over a year. The reply I receive from the man, who's name I can't remember because I'm bad with names, tells me that it's just for the summer, it'll go fast & if we've been together that long we've probably talked about "things", I'll let you think what you like on that one, & that it's only a summer compared to forever. I smile & surprised that my new acquaintance has faith in my relationship that would normally mean nothing to the average person. He's a romantic which is a quality I appreciate & also share with this man. But honestly, what he just said was the best thing I'd heard in days. I've been worried about being away from the boyfriend & not having the opportunities to visit like I did last summer. Anyways, our plane landed, he sincerely wished me the best of luck, & I will remember the man who gave me hope in life & love.
Even though my flight from Indy landed in Chicago early, I still had to run from one gate to the next to get my connecting flight, which was already boarding by the time I got there. This flight from Midway to Philly was packed. I should have picked an aisle seat this time because the man was not only snoring but wearing a cut off t-shirt, which I feel is not acceptable on an airplane but not acceptable for his age either. Thankfully, that flight landed early as well & I was in Philadelphia at last. The City of Brotherly Love. But, this was only a minor stop on my way to my final destination, Hamilton, NJ, my home away from home for the summer. So, I headed to baggage claim, (because yes, I ended up checking my carry on because once again, I'm horrible at packing), & headed outside for my next leg of the trip. New Jersey.
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