Sunday, May 17, 2009

Road Warriors





Several weeks ago, Jude and decided to take a trip with John Patrick to Neptune Beach, Fl, to visit our friends, Troy and Cyndi Baines, and their children, Wolf, Scout and Finn. Friday evening, we boarded a Southwest Airlines jet a little before 8 p.m., and departed shortly thereafter on the flight to Jacksonville. Jude and I were a little apprehensive, having never taken J.P. on an airplane together.

About ten minutes or so before we were to land in Jacksonville, Jude lifted John Patrick out of his car seat next to the window and held him, as he had become a bit fussy. Suddenly and without warning, he vomited all over her. By all over her, I mean all over her, on her and underneath her. Literally, Jude was sitting in a pool of vomit, in the middle seat of row 17. I jumped up and walked to the back of the airplane, where a flight attendant gave me a trash bag and a handful of paper towels. Next, I tried to wipe her off while John Patrick squirmed in her arms.

Finally, we landed at the airport in Jacksonville, only to discover our gate was occupied by another airplane. We waited on the tarmac for about ten or fifteen minutes, then taxied, finally, to our gate. Jude, John Patrick and I were the last to leave the airplane, as we tried to clean up and gather all of our gear (carry on luggage, laptop computer, car seat, stroller, etc.). We staggered down to the baggage claim area, retrieved our luggage, only to realize we had left my camera on the airplane. Fortunately, the airplane hadn't yet left the gate and after an extended wait, a baggage handler arrived with my camera. For some reason, he refused to accept a tip from me. Cyndi met us outside the airport and we headed home to Neptune Beach, arriving near midnight.

John Patrick was so tired, we had a hard time getting him to go to sleep in the "Pack 'n' Play" in the Baines' guest house. It was a long, long night.

We're not so much "road warriors" as "road rookies."

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