Home

After a long flight I made it home. The flights all went well, just long and boring. Brian and some other LKSD folks were all on my flight into ANC and it was nice to share a few drinks with people. My flight for Seattle left at about 1 am. I was hoping to snooze during the flight but just my luck I sat next to a young man who wanted to talk the entire time. Usually, one thing I love about traveling is meeting all sorts of people. I call the people I meet on planes my "plane friends". I once sat across the aisle from a mattress salesman from Fairbanks who, by the time we had landed in Seattle, was certain we were destined to get married and have a family. I had told him earlier in the flight I would buy him a coffee once we reached Seattle. I ran like hell when he went to have a smoke. Another time I sat next to a guy who was an amateur ultimate fighter. He was pretty cool. One of my most favorite plane friends was a young man who had just gotten back from Iraq. He had told his family he wouldn't be able to come home to Georgia for Christmas but was going to Georgia to surprise them all. He was nervous as hell about seeing his family and was all sorts of fidgety. At one point we started talking about Macy and as soon as the cabin lights went out we pulled her from her bag and he sat with her the entire flight, just petting her. Soon, he was calm and he fell asleep too.



So, I usually enjoy making plane friends. However, I was EXHAUSTED and just wanted to sleep. The guy sitting next to me told me he was from Seattle but had a very thick accent I couldn't place. I then asked him where he was from origianlly and he said Georgia. The accent though was definitely NOT a Georgian accent. Eventually it came out that his father had been in the military and this guy grew up in Belgium. This man, Serge, then decided that we needed to talk the entire flight. Not only did his accent make communication difficult but his low, mumbled, quiet voice made it near immpossible. He would ask a question and I would stare at him trying to process what he said. Then I would apologize and ask him to repeat what he said. He would repeat and, still not having any clue what he said, I would just smile and nod my head. He was a nice man but every time I was near the dozing off point he would ask me another question.



On my flight from Seattle to Chicago I made plane friends with a nice doctor and his wife. They were just coming back from Hawaii and after spending some time talking to them I know now where my next vacation is going to be. They were very nice and wonderful people and I enjoyed sitting next to them very much.



The final leg of my trip home included a bus ride from O'Hare to Milwaukee where my mom and dad were waiting to pick me up. After some confusion about whether Macy could actually ride the bus we were on our way. Turns out sitting about two rows up from me was a Site Administrator from one of the schools in the Barrow School District. He tried his best to get me to come work for him next year and he did pique my interest. He made it sound pretty damn nice. He and his wife were wonderful people and our conversation made the bus ride go by pretty fast.

I think my mom spotted Macy first in Milwaukee then looked to see who was holding her! IT WAS ME! haha...

Anyway...I'm home and it feels great! I'm looking forward to the next few weeks!