Fly the Friendly(?) Skies
I just got on a plane for the first time since the Ides of March 2020, which was the weekend that Shit Got Serious in the U.S. I had taken a very early morning Amtrak from Richmond to BWI on Friday the 13th and I was the only person on my entire car. That would definitely be something we like to call “a sign.” I don’t remember how full the plane was.
This time, the plane was full. It was clear that many of these people had also not been on a plane for approximately 18 months, or quite possibly EVER. Multiple people were in the wrong seat. Multiple people were flying with car seats and strollers and had no idea what to do with them. There was one very nice family with a mom and three young kids that DID know what to do with their stroller, but because they were a party of four, one of the kids had to sit separately from the rest of the crew. Fortunately they were all in the same aisle. Unfortunately that was also MY aisle. So my seatmates were an 8-year-old (I guessed he was 8; he said I was wrong, then said he would be 9 at the end of the month, at which point I politely informed him that that ACTUALLY MEANS HE IS STILL EIGHT) and a very nice young lady wearing a t-shirt that said DUMP HIM, who had walked by earlier when I was waiting to board and talking to my boyfriend on the phone. Of course I told my boyfriend that I always take advice printed on the t-shirts of strangers, so we were no longer an item effective immediately and I should probably cancel my trip to Florida to see him.
Tell me everything there is to know about you.
But I actually had a really nice time chatting with my almost-9-year-old new friend. We talked about basketball, gaming, science, Falls Church (he said his address out loud and I was like HEY KID MAYBE DON’T), plane crashes (also had to MAYBE DON’T on that one), and broccoli (I taught him the phrase “an acquired taste”). And it turns out DUMP HIM is a fourth-grade teacher, so she was just happy to have a kid talking to someone else for a change.
When flying next to an 8-year-old is more fun than being in the place you are flying to, that’s also what we call “a sign.”
Currently the only redeeming things about Florida are as follows (probably an exhaustive list):
Boyfriend (he could make any place redeemable)
The casita I rented on AirBNB is a cute little love nest with just the right touches of baby pink, a color that belongs exclusively on ballet shoes and in casitas and maybe at Richmond’s Quirk Hotel
The dude working at this godawful suburban Tampa Starbucks is giving me life
Additionally, some dude just walked in and dropped a $100 bill on the ground as he walked up to the counter, and I had to grab it and approach him like “you’re going to want to be my best friend, because you just dropped this and I saved it”
The thunderstorms are intense and cool but it would be nice if they would stop so I could walk around on a beach or something
Gas stations on every corner, literally, which is not nice to look at but extremely convenient
