Company

I turned around quickly, because the tap startled me, I had just drifted off into my "zone." I spun around, and came face to face with a guy I didn't know. I swirled around in my seat so quickly that we ended up nearly kissing. Quickly, I realized the awkward closeness and pulled away. When I zoomed back I got the full picture. A soldier sat in the row of seats behind me, reaching his arm out with a handful of change. He was in an Army uniform, the modern camo print I recognized from t.v. He was a big guy, but not bulky-big, strong I suppose. He had light brown hair and green eyes. He looked tired and I wondered why the heck he'd bother returning my stray coins.

"Your change?" he asked again. I was just staring at him, and then loudly blurted out "YEAH." He leaned back, and said "well here you go" waiting for me to put out my hands. It took me a minute to catch on, and then I reached out my hands after a delay. He poured about $5 spare change in my cupped hands. The coins jingled and glimmered as they fell from his hands to mine. My hands were tiny compared to his, and they filled up quickly. One coin spilled over the mound and fell to the floor. He grabbed it and said "huh - that's the year I was born." I sat there with my little hands cupped around roughly 5 bucks in change, and asked him when that was? 1980, he said - with a drawn out yawn. I thanked him, sensing he was tired and had to get going. He looked down at the seat next to me and asked "is anyone sitting here?"

Spare Change

I don't like waiting in the airport all alone. At first, some time to myself seemed nice, but that got old fast. Traveling with someone makes waiting around seem less cumbersome and sort of in an odd way exciting. I guess because the situation is shared, and company is cherished.

I had been reading my book for about 3 hours, when my eyes could no longer read the letters on each page. My eyes were heavy but not tired, just tired of reading. Tired of staring, and my mind was tired of giving the book a chance to be great. It wasn't great and wasn't even interesting me. I was bored of doing everything people do when the are bored and waiting. So now what? Maybe I just needed coffee? Can't go wrong with that. At least it is something to do in a very simple sense. Wow, how lame... sipping coffee was something to do and pass time. Yeah, it was. Maybe I get a cookie too? Might be stimulation overload! No, I'll just get the coffee, I decided. A cookie might make me even more anxious to get out of the terminal than I already was.

I waited in a ridiculously long line at the little coffee shop. I could have wandered down into another gate, but didn't want to miss any important updates about my flight. After waiting in line for about 5 minutes, I placed my order at the counter and waited another 2 minutes for the slow coffee shop workers to bring me my toffee flavored coffee. I dug deep down in my big purse for some change, and came up with a handful. As I was sorting through the handful for $1.85, my klutzy hands caved and the whole pile fell to the floor. There must have been ten dollars in change swirling and clinking beneath. The strangers in the line behind me glared, crossed their arms, tapped their feet and huffed to express their impatience. Several people helped pick up the coins that were right at their feet, but nobody went out of their way to fetch me my spare change. Finally, after prowling around on the floor like a cat, I was able to come up with the $1.85, pay for my coffee and escape that klutzy, embarrassing moment.

I was blushing, and frazzled by that incident. I felt so stupid and out of place. I wasn't supposed to be in Atlanta, and it was really starting to annoy me. I realized I was teary eyed, on the verge of a cry attack. This tiny tiny glitch was about to set me into a tizzy. Thoughts of Tom flashed in my mind, along with all the other negative things that feed on weakness. So, I quickly found my way back to my gate and skimmed the area for a seat that was just as alone as I felt. I slumped down in the cold chair and sipped my coffee, hoping to get a grip, zone out and hear good news about my flight - soon.

Then, suddenly… I felt a light tap on my back and heard a guy say "Umm, I think this is some of your change."

Non, Non-Stop Flight

I got to the airport Saturday morning with tons of time to spare. Usually, I am the one running down the terminal halls screaming "wait, wait!" Not this time, I didn't want Leo's generosity to go to waist. So, I set every alarm in my apartment and got to my gate with over an hour to spare (that's good for me). Last night I cleaned out all the junk from my purse, so that I wouldn't be stuck in security all day.

With time to spare at my gate, it was like vacation. I had fun reading, sipping coffee and enjoyed one of those massive cinnamon buns that probably have about 2000 calories. Oh well, I don't care.

My flight out of New York, boarded right on time and took off smoothly. I am glad Leo remembered I like to sit by the window. I just hate being sandwiched between strangers... feeling forced to have a conversation that neither people are interested in. You know? I just wanted to zone out, look out the window, maybe fall asleep?

About an hour into our flight the sky had turned ominously dark and we were having major turbulence. The pilot came on to explain that there was a band of severe thunderstorms going right through our flight path, and that we would have to land in Atlanta to wait it out. Ugh, so much for my nice non-stop flight Leo arranged. I have such bad luck. If its not me getting into trouble its me getting run right over by it!

Our plane landed in Atlanta around 9:30am, still morning, but I worried we'd be stuck there all day. This would leave me with one day to visit Leo and his family - That's crazy!

While we were sitting on the busy, rainy, dark and super windy runway the flight attendant came on to give us an "important message." She explained that we should stay near the same gate came in from to be notified of updates on our flight. She also mentioned (in a really inappropriate cheerful pitch) that the entire city of Atlanta was under a tornado watch... and, that 2 tornados had touched down in western parts of town. The day continued to get gloomier. :(