They are people have my own heart! The love affair began when I arrived at the international terminal in Chicago to see an army of brown folks waiting in line with mountains, literally, mountains of luggage. All of the anxiety of my pile of checked luggage seemed minuscule in comparison. Although the line was crazy long, because I came in from a connecting flight, I went to the front of the line and was processed quickly.
Now I'm waiting in the gate area and again, it 's a sea of brown folks. It reminds me a lot of my youth when I lived in the segregated South. Everyone in my world looked like me. Although that was a difficult time in our nation, I have warm, fond memories of that time. (Relative to these folks - I'm not forgetting about the HUGE cultural difference between them and me, but this is the most brown people I've seen since my years at my historical black university - FAMU in Tallahassee, FL).
On the flight to Abu Dhabi now.
Side note - Mothers with infants are seated in the first row of each cabin and portable bassinets are attached to the wall where the babies are strapped in and can sleep. What a wonderful idea! Where was this 30 years ago with I was flying with babies?
Side note 2 - There's a young man from Texas who is sitting next to me and he works for the same company that Ben worked for when he had his accident. Small world. Working for Schlumberger is this kid's first job, so I kept my negative comments about this company to a minimum.
Side note 3 - My super plans to visit Miami and New York again before I left the states didn't happen. On the eve of my travel with ticket in hand, I went online to pay for my bags. After some frustration with the website, I called US Airways to pay over the phone. I was quoted a price of $1500 to cover the cost of the bags, over and above the cost of the ticket. Totally insane! (Never say never, but if I can help it, US Airways will never get a dime of my money again). So, I canceled the flight and spent some time in a deep, dark depressed state. Thankfully, that didn't last long, but I needed to regroup mentally. I couldn't answer another question asking when I was leaving. It was taking everything I had, plus a lot of encouragement from my brother Forrest, to keep a positive attitude. I received the confirming email with my flight info on Wednesday, the 16th, with travel planned for the 20th.
We're just over a half hour til landing. Sorry for the jumping around, but those of you who know me well, know that's how I think. Will come back to it have I get settled in for the night.
Now I'm waiting in the gate area and again, it 's a sea of brown folks. It reminds me a lot of my youth when I lived in the segregated South. Everyone in my world looked like me. Although that was a difficult time in our nation, I have warm, fond memories of that time. (Relative to these folks - I'm not forgetting about the HUGE cultural difference between them and me, but this is the most brown people I've seen since my years at my historical black university - FAMU in Tallahassee, FL).
On the flight to Abu Dhabi now.
Side note - Mothers with infants are seated in the first row of each cabin and portable bassinets are attached to the wall where the babies are strapped in and can sleep. What a wonderful idea! Where was this 30 years ago with I was flying with babies?
Side note 2 - There's a young man from Texas who is sitting next to me and he works for the same company that Ben worked for when he had his accident. Small world. Working for Schlumberger is this kid's first job, so I kept my negative comments about this company to a minimum.
Side note 3 - My super plans to visit Miami and New York again before I left the states didn't happen. On the eve of my travel with ticket in hand, I went online to pay for my bags. After some frustration with the website, I called US Airways to pay over the phone. I was quoted a price of $1500 to cover the cost of the bags, over and above the cost of the ticket. Totally insane! (Never say never, but if I can help it, US Airways will never get a dime of my money again). So, I canceled the flight and spent some time in a deep, dark depressed state. Thankfully, that didn't last long, but I needed to regroup mentally. I couldn't answer another question asking when I was leaving. It was taking everything I had, plus a lot of encouragement from my brother Forrest, to keep a positive attitude. I received the confirming email with my flight info on Wednesday, the 16th, with travel planned for the 20th.
We're just over a half hour til landing. Sorry for the jumping around, but those of you who know me well, know that's how I think. Will come back to it have I get settled in for the night.
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