now boarding group A

Standing in cattle call for my flight home Friday night I scanned the lounge. Business travelers were few and far between at this point. Most in line were couples taking a weekend trip. Must be nice to have a significant other to take a getaway trip with I thought to myself. There were some med students traveling to a conference or something. And there was this boy...he was alone. He wore a Clippers sun visor and I noticed his hair was turning a slight ting of salt and pepper, which he wore quite well. He was listening to his ishuffle and typing away on his computer.

The plane started boarding. I found my seat close to the front and stored my luggage. It had been a long day and my head at this point was screaming. I just wanted to get home and pull the covers over my head. Traveling for work seems glamorous to some. They wouldn’t think so if they traded days with me like the one I had just had. Being hundred of miles from home, racing to the airport in traffic with unfriendly drivers, missing your exit and ending up in a bad part of town asking for directions on how the hell to get back onto the highway in the direction you need to go. I have a good sense of direction, but when the entrances and exits are in neighborhoods where it’s necessary to know the little local streets that’s challenging for anyone, directionally challenged or not. Then on top of that when you do get home you have to wait for the shuttle bus to get you to your car and then drive home exhausted and starving because all you can get on the planes are small bags of peanuts. The topper to all this is then walking into a dark empty home…how glamorous…not! Needless to say the day needed to end and I was dreaming of my bed.

Southwest doesn't have assigned seating and depending on how lucky you are you might not have to sit 3 to a row. I’ve often heard of people meeting and marrying someone they sat next to on the plane. I never, I’ll repeat never sat next to anyone that I’ve been interested in. I must put off this don’t talk or sit next to me vibe which I don’t get why/how, but nonetheless guys that I would like to possibly talk to don’t sit near me even on a plane where there isn’t assigned seating. So on this flight I was preparing myself to have to sit blocked in by some couple going away for the weekend. My luck they’d be talking all gushy to each other. To my surprise though, guess who sat down in my row….the boy with the clippers visor. We didn't talk, but smiled and nodded our hellos to each other.

He pulled his computer out during the flight and started typing away as he had in the airport lounge. His computer was an Apple and I thought of my friend Anna. She'd have something to talk to this boy about…their obvious love for things Apple. The plane stopped in El Paso before heading on to Austin. The boy got off there. In the back of my head I knew he was an Army boy. Ft. Bliss is in El Paso. While he was waiting for the line to start moving in front of him our eyes locked. It wasn't uncomfortable as often those type of situations are for me. We smiled at each other I said “bye”, he said “so long”, confirmation that he was in the military. My don’t sit next to me theory's been broken.