I Love Airports

I guess I love to travel by any means, but airports are pretty fun.  I have a pet peeve though about the cost of airport food, so here I sit in Chef Jimmy’s Bistro at the Denver airport that claims to be a sit down, great affordable place.  I’m happy.  I’m drinking a $6 cabernet and eating a $5 bruschetta sampler. 

Across from me a couple of women order coffee and pasta and one of them pulls out a big ol’ tupperware container of raw broccolli.  Now that’s just weird.  I guess she’s afraid there won’t be any broccolli where she’s going?  If that’s the case, I bet she’s going someplace where they will ask her whether she’s carrying any fruits or vegetables in which case she’ll have to fork over her stash or face the consequences.

Two twentyish-year-olds sit next to me eating pizza and water.  They are a very thin vegan, Austin looking couple (her neck pillow has a Longhorn on it)  They are precious -- he touches the side of her chin from time to time in a very subtle public display of affection.

Some old dudes (ok, gentlemen who are my age) in Harley t-shirts stand outside the restaurant and decide to come in because a table opens up that’s in front of the one and only TV in the place and a game is on.  Geeze...

I think it might be cool to date a pilot; because a) he would be able to show me some cool places around the world and b) he would be gone a lot so I could continue with my own life!  I really, really, really like being unattached and don’t think I’ll ever be able to commit to someone again....unless he just thought every move I make is perfect and precious and will be along for the ride with me.

Ok, plane delayed by an hour and a half...so far.  That means Daniel will have to pick me up tonight at like 12:30. He was having dinner with Don and, apparently, Landon because Landon was harassing him when I called...Like “Daniel your Mommy’s calling”.

Moved down to the bar closest to my gate and am now on house cab for $6.50 served in a disposable cup.  Crowd is much more fun here though.  “Blue Sky Bar” -- Quiznos attached on one side -- coffee and junk food on the other.

Been writing in this journal then texting the kids and Lis but notice a lovely man sit down next to me on a bar stool.  He’s watching a game and I’m writing with my pink pen in my dragon fly Santa Fe notebook.  At some point I quip “so you’re on the popcorn and beer diet”.  He says, “Yea, couldn’t pass up the popcorn.  It smelled so good.” We banter about where ya been, why were you there, how was the weather, yada yada yada.  I’m just trying not to look like a total dweeb.  I say something clever like, “Is this your team or does it matter?”  He pulls out his Dallas Cowboys sweatshirt and then we banter about the class act --Tom Landry. I tell him the story of how I actually met Tom Landry in Austin in the mid '80s and had a short conversation with him. I used to see him from time to time in restaurants and once in the parking lot of the Toys R Us. I would always say hello and he would always pretend he knew who I was.  He says he’s been a Cowboys fan since ‘76.  Was he born in “76?  Nah --  he’s my age.

We talk about NOLA, Santa Fe, Austin, Dallas and then he reveals that he is a former Frontier pilot.  He’s on his way to Portland Oregon.  I say my son just told me he would like to be an EMS pilot and he gives me his phone number and says to have Daniel call him and he will hook him up with several of his buddies who are air ambulance pilots. Seriously?  Suddenly, I’m rushing off hoping I didn’t miss my boarding and he says “I’ll be right here if your flight is still delayed.”  CRAP!...my plane is boarding...That’s the closest I’ve come to a flirtation device since 1984!! That was fun...but I'm not giving Daniel this guy's phone number...did he even tell me his name? Nope...just his phone number...bizarre, really, when you think about it.

Sweet woman sits beside in the center seat of the plane, but she and I together I’m sure will drive the passengers around us completely crazy.  I need a headset so I don’t engage...but I don’ t have one and I’m unwilling to buy one.

Really?!! If the seatbelt sign is on you can’t get up to pee?  I was chastised by a flight attendant.  I knew if I didn’t go then they would have the drink cart in the isle for forever. What’s girl to do? Two glasses of wine and three hours in the airport -- really, I simply had no choice. Luckily she scolded me on my way out of the toity.  WTF???

TMI from the chick next to me...To recap - she’s scoping out places to move to - her boyfriend doesn’t know yet, that she’s leaving.  She thinks her 6th grade son was being scouted at his baseball game on Saturday that she missed.  She’s fixing to close a $43,000 commercial insurance deal because she charged a $1500 initiation fee that the client won’t want to pay again to another agent (yea, ok, WHATEVER!)  She asks me if I’m writing letters and I say “no, its a journal” and she looks at me with, I swear, a giant question mark hovering over her head. “Oh”, she says.

I think it is slightly odd that the screen in front of me (since I’m not hooked up watching the tube) is playing a scene of the sky. It is a blue sky with clouds floating by. Um, I’m in an airplane.  If I look left or right I could see this scene, except that it is dark out there.  I wonder if, during the daytime, do they show a dark sky with a moon and stars?