People Watching....(or why you should be early)

I have more pictures to post but I'm too tired right now...jet lag sucks!! LOL!! I'm glad I planned for a day to do nothing and nap if needed because it was needed!! My kids need naps too, and because of that have been bickering all day, which is making me crazy...I've alternated between wanting to burn their tree house down (because they were making "rules" to try to control each other in regards to the tree house) and wanting to take an Ativan and just go to sleep until they have to go to bed!! Problem is...the Ativan is in the suitcases that didn't make the transition to the Phoenix plane last night and are being delivered to my house SOMETIME today...so I guess I better just go get a blowtorch!! (JK...don't call the fire department on me!!)

Back to people watching...the real reason for this post...

I took my four kids, our four bags (yes, I managed to pack us all into four bags and I'm pretty proud of that...even prouder that I had enough room to bring home all the awesome hand-me-downs that my kids got from our awesome friends that we visited in Florida!!), all their carry-on's (why do kids feel the need to have 800 things to entertain them on a plane and then all they do is beg me to buy the movies??) and get in the security line at the Orlando airport. This is where I found my amusement.

Some people were very bored (well, duh, standing in line for an hour is boring...but you never really see that level of boredom when people stand in line for an hour to go on Big Thunder Mountain)...Some people were angry...some people kept checking their watches, then their boarding pass, then their watches again...as if that would change the time it said so they wouldn't be late.

I sat back and laughed. Don't get me wrong...my kids don't like standing in line anymore than anybody else but we got there two hours early and we were going to make our plane without having a coronary.

I floored a lady who was REALLY late for her flight...flying alone with one child and more carry on luggage than I thought one person could carry...(I wondered if she had a ticket for the TWO GIANT stuffed Mario Brothers that she had with her)...I let her go in front of us. She said no the first time...then I told her, "really, it takes us an eternity to go through security for all five of us...go ahead..."

Then the really funny (sad) thing happened. People got mad at me. For letting her go ahead of me. I wasn't making them any later...she was traveling with a sick child (he had just come from the hospital and I wondered if he was there on a Make-a-Wish but I didn't ask)...and I gave her the gift of a little grace...and people got angry...sigh...

They also had to shut our line down for awhile and this caused all sorts of reactions...They called out "BRAVO" and all the lines stopped cold...now, I assumed this was because somebody had something questionable and the TSA agents would prefer that we not push on and let the bomber on the plane (I have a fairly wild imagination when in comes to flying) and I was quite content to stay right where I was as far away as possible from said bomber with his over 3 oz. jar of hand-lotion-that-might-be-a-bomb.

But no...people were MAD!! I mean really mad...threatening to take out the TSA agent and her supervisor MAD!!

One lady said, " I pay all this money for a ticket, you should let me through"...In my mind I was thinking, maybe if you slipped them $20 they will just shoot you right here...I mean really, do people think they take these security precautions just to prove they are more important than the rest of us??

Another man came up and yelled at the poor girl (who couldn't have been over 20) who was in charge of our line..."you have to let me through, I'm late for my plane"...He didn't just raise his voice, he yelled at her so they could have heard him on the fourth floor.

To her credit she just calmly kept repeating "they're not letting anyone through, I'm sorry."

At one point I turned to this guy and, risking any further opportunities to spread gentleness and kindness in this world, told him to shut up. I told him my theory on the fact that if someone indeed had a bomb at the front of the line we were much safer where we were... and did he want to die?? I told him the poor girl was just doing her job and to be quiet.

Amazingly enough, he was. Quiet that is. I suppose there was an equal chance that he would just haul off and hit me but he was being really rude to the poor TSA agent who was just doing her job.

And I did tell him to shut up in my nicest I'm-a-teacher-and-I-do-mean-business-buddy voice.

I did find some companions in the crowd as well. Two moms, traveling together, with at least four VERY small children between them, two very large strollers and all the peraphenalia that goes with babes in diapers, just looked at me and smiled...they knew...and they had gotten there at least two hours early as well so they were calm...even with babies crying and people shouting all around them. They let the lady-with-the-sick-kid-running-late-for-her-plane in front of them too.

We made it through the line in a mere 45 minutes and had plenty of time to buy drinks for everyone to take on the plane. Then, right after we got seated on the plane, they grounded us!! There was some hold up in Atlanta so they wouldn't let us take off. People started panicking all over again. I mean really....there was a good chance that we wouldn't make our connection and how is freaking out at the stewardess going to make that better??

The answer is, it's not. I called my husband and had him checking on later flights just in case. And they handed out FREE headsets!! It's amazing how happy I can be when I'm given something, anything, for FREE!!! We made it to Atlanta with just enough time to grab my kids and RUN down the gateway with 2 minutes to spare before they called our boarding zone. We made it to Phoenix on time (although our luggage had to take a later flight!) without too much ado about nothing.

All in all, it was still easier than driving across country for five days with all my kids in my car!!! LOL!!

I guess the moral of the story is, unless you like stress (and people secretly laughing at you in their heads) get to the airport early.

Bring a book...buy yourself a cup of coffee...and spend a few minutes amused by the poor people creating ulcers by waiting until the last minute to get to the airport.

You'll be glad you did.