Tampa, FL

On Friday, I had the pleasure of meeting my friends Laura and Ted for lunch in Ballston. Laura and Ted have been loyal readers of the blog since we bonded over the faux Frenchman incident, and I promised Ted I would share here something he said to me on Friday. We were discussing the various summer travels and I mentioned Bermuda--Laura and Ted have not been and would love to go.
"I love Bermuda, you have to go!" I said,
"We really want to," replied Laura, who went on to discuss another place they had been because a friend got married there.
"Well, I'm thinking I'd like to get married in Bermuda," I replied.
"Perfect! You can get married and we'll come!" Laura and Ted readily agreed to this plan.
"Great, it's a plan! Now, I just need the husband," I said.

"Guys are everywhere," said Ted.

We had a good chat about this great statement, including additions to Laura & Ted's approved list of wedding destinations (Australia and Argentina). Little did Ted know how prophetic his words would be.

Back in January, my "little" sister Elizabeth turned 16. Since she was five, Elizabeth and I have had a special outing to celebrate her birthday--we started with Disney movies in IMAX in New York City, progressed to Broadway shows and a sleepover--and so I thought for Sweet Sixteen, we'd do something special. Elizabeth finally decided she would like to go to Tampa to visit Busch Gardens and my dear friends Laura and Joe, and their little girl.

Elizabeth and I were to meet in Baltimore to fly to Tampa together. The traffic was unbelievably bad, and it took me well over two hours to get to the airport, so I parked in the hourly garage, made my way through security, and ran, barefoot, to the end of the A terminal (of course it was the last gate!), where Elizabeth was patiently waiting. We were just about the last people on the plane, and so unfortunately we had to sit separately, each in a middle seat. I sat down between two gentlemen and the small chat began as I got myself settled.

First, the man to my left commented that he only needed one seatbelt, I could have the other. I replied that I hoped he'd only need one seatbelt, which he took as a commentary on his size--and he was skinny. I felt bad and told him I was referring to safety. We shared a chuckle.

The man to my right started talking to me,
"Have you met Bob?" He asked.
"Oh, are you together?" I replied.
"Well, no, but we do work together," he said.

Score another foot in the mouth for me.

I look across the aisle, and there is another man checking me out, smiling at me. I'm thinking, why is this man smiling at me, when he is clearly married and traveling with his wife and baby!?!??!

Then, Elizabeth pulled out a Post-It note and passed a note to Bob. The dude next to her was not excited about this and said, "I hope you won't be passing notes the whole flight."
Then, suddenly, she and I found ourselves in a three-aisle conversation with Bob, the guy to my right, and the cute married guy about my age, who we were, and why we were traveling together.

Shortly after that, Bob asked if we were all traveling together--and I said, "No, I think they are just really friendly. It's just me and my sister."

As the flight progressed, the married man started paying more attention to his family (hello!), and the man to my right (who never told me his name) chatted with me about New York, being an accountant, Australia (I was trying to read up) and finally started watching a movie on his laptop. There was a strange exchange with the flight attendant, Mr. Window Seat and Bob, that ended up being quite funny. Bob and Mr. Window Seat looked like your standard business travelers--though Bob was wearing Bermuda shorts, which I pointed out was a little less dressy than Mr. Window Seat. Bob told me he'd get me back for that one, since apparently Mr. WS outranks him at their CPA firm. At one point, Mr. Window Seat looked out the window and told me,
"Did I mention that I'm not a great traveler? I really don't like to fly and the weather out there makes me nervous."

I was surprised by this, and Bob chimed in with some information, when suddenly Mr. Window Seat grabbed my hand and pretended to be scared! I laughed and laughed--and then he was asking about my Mickey Mouse watch. Bob shared that he had a brief career in Disneyland, I remarked that this trip was kind of like sitting in between Statler and Waldorf on The Muppet Show.

And from time to time, I'd look over at Elizabeth, and she'd give me the evil eye, wondering what the heck was going on.

After we landed, Mr. Window Seat made a few phone calls and then said,
"That was my wife. I didn't tell her about you. She doesn't need to know that I sat next to a beautiful woman and held her hand during the flight when I got scared."

Ted was right--guys are everywhere!

Flights to Southwest A List Status: 8