My bag travelled more than I did.

In what I’m sure will come as no surprise, the flights out and back went absolutely fine.

I travelled extremely light, as far as carry-ons go. Normally, I have my shoulder bag filled with all manner of magazines, books, my shaving kit, and whatever-else. This time though, for efficiency’s and simplicity’s sake, I packed it all in the checked bag and walked on the plane with my nerdy book about Rome. That was it.

Served me fine on the way out and the way back. I read some and napped some and everything went smooth as an appropriate analogy.

Until we got back to Baltimore.

And they told us our bags were in Charlotte.

Our bags. Were in Charlotte.

In fact, every bag that should have been on our plane went to Charlotte. This wasn’t a complicated flight – no crazy connections. It orginated in St. Louis and ended in Baltimore. Literally, the baggage handlers from American Airlines put our bags on a Charlotte-bound plane and their bags on our plane. Nice move.

All is well; I drove over to the airport at lunch and picked up our bags. They took a scenic detoir through Dallas, but we have them now and that’s that.

Still though, it was wierd to leave the airport last night with nothing but an 800 number and a promise that we’d see our bags soon – promise.

And now? Now it’s home to change and then over to Golden West for some half-price burgers. And beer. Lotsss of beer.

Except Not…

Inner Monologue: Uhhh, Mike?
Me: Aww, crap, somehow I knew you’d show up. What do you want?
Inner Monologue: Have you seen the news today?
Me: The planes? The plot? The thwarting?
Inner Monologue: Yup. Planes. Plot. Thwarting.
Me: And?
Inner Monologue: AND. Aren’t you nervous?
Me: I dunno. Not really?
Inner Monologue: No? Not at all.
Me: More apprehensive really, it’s not like we’re flying overseas or anything.
Inner Monologue: But still.
Me: Nahh, but nothing. It’s a little flight from Baltimore to Saint Louis. Hardly a high-priority target. Besides, they caught the guys.
Inner Monologue: Says you. You hope they caught all the guys.
Me: Yeah, I do. I’m more worried about the mundane stuff.
Inner Monologue: Such as?
Me: How much longer to check in. How long security will take. What, if anything to carry on.
Inner Monologue: Knowing you, your only carry on will be your latest uber-nerdy historical fiction paperback. What is it this time? Dark Age Britain? American Civil War?
Me: Roman Legions in the First Century.
Inner Monologue: Nerd.
Me: True. My main point of concern right now is with the Sister and her family.
Inner Monologue: Denmark?
Me: Exactly. They come back on Sunday. I can’t imagine that’s going to be a fun trip.
Inner Monologue: And travelling with an 8-month old will only lower the stress level, right?
Me: Riiiight. I know they’ll be fine, but I know they will set foot on their plane in full are-we-there-yet mode.
Inner Monologue: So, to sum up…
Me: Not nervous. Just Apprehensive.
Inner Monologue: Because…?
Me: All of a sudden there  are a few more question marks than there were yesterday.
Inner Monologue: Good times.
Me: Something like that.

Sunny Skies

This weekend my family, under a cloudy but clearing sky, sat in a back yard near Hershey, PA, and watched my cousin get married.

It was a small cermony, warm and beautiful and exactly like the two of them. Her father, a minister, performed the ceremony while my cousin’s dog played among the grass to the side.

Afterwards, we ate and laughed and took pictures.

It’s funny when you realize as it’s happening that you are in a moment that you will remember for the rest of your life. You almost feel like you should be doing or saying something more important, something with gravity. But you can’t, or maybe you shouldn’t. You should just let the moment come and wash over you, content with warm memories of family and days spent under increasingly sunny skies.