If any of you travel by plane a lot, well, you have my sympathies.

Sheesh. When we flew out of Buffalo we were at the airport by around 5:15 in the morning and oh my goodness. I'd never seen such an eternally-long line! 

But the neat thing? An official-looking guy pulled Tom out of line (though we both wondered if Tom appeared suspicious or something), and when we followed him through all the mayhem, he led us to a tiny  line, one where the pilots go through and those folks who need assistance. All it took was Tom's standing in the original line with his cane for us to be granted such favor. 

(We shared that story with some friends, and they joked that hey! Next time they're at an airport, they'll take a cane and perhaps wear an eye patch, too, just in case.)

So anyway, it shocked me how everyone practically disrobed right in front of us. Many removed everything except their shirts and slacks before stepping through the detector, so we did that, too. And then as we dressed again I muttered to Tom, "The day they make us strip down to our underwear, that's the day I stop flying forever." heh.

Then there was the next airport, the one in Cincinnati, where we literally had to race through crowds and over those moving sidewalks (and boy, is that a wild feeling, like racing for your own flying take-off) in order to reach our next flight (gasping, I told the woman at the desk that my husband was right behind me). The flight attendant of our previous plane said that the five of us going to Portland would have to hurry and she gave us her best wishes, which translated, meant, "Good luck, cuz you're sure gonna need it."

And then the movie on our Cincinnati plane was Evan Almighty. Guess which movie Tom and I had watch just five days before? So we didn't buy the earphones, but I did watch it again and used my rusty ability of lip-reading. And the movie on our return flight? Yep, Evan Almighty. Again. But this time I did purchase the headphones cuz it was gonna be one long flight home and besides, on the previous trip, they'd shown other programs (albeit rather boring ones) afterward. This time though, the 'after shows' were better and made the whole trip feel much shorter. 

In fact, on the flight out to Portland as I sat there munching the Delta snack pack and watching the silent version of Evan Almighty and listening to the soft chatter and laughter of people on the sunny plane, I remember thinking, "You know? This is pleasant, like relaxing in a living room. Of course, I'd enjoy it more if we weren't thousands of scary feet in the air, but hey. This feels peaceful, all things considered."

Oh, and not till yesterday did I remember to find the latest Victoria magazine. And sitting on our own front porch with Victoria, the world, my world, now feels back to normal. Slow-paced. Friendly. Quiet and anchored on the ground. Thank-goodness.


***

P.S. In case you wondered, I enjoyed the new Victoria and was relieved it resembled the original a lot. Loved the clothes, both Tasha's and the ones on page 89. Even loved most of the ads for furniture--the rooms were ones I'd love to live in, myself. I'm looking forward to the next issue!