tuesday, september 20
today i was supposed to wake up and go cash in a "massage sandwich" gift certificate (sauna, massage, hot tub) to common grounds that seth gave me last christmas, then leisurely bid adieu to friends, then calmly ride to airport with big caverns of time to spare. but of course i grossly underestimated how long it would take me to pack, which was supposed to have been done by yesterday afternoon, and i instead awoke with five hours sleep, for the third day in a row, and consulted the list. if i were four people i could get everything on the list done and still have time for that massage.
but i am not and massage will not happen and i know this, but i will fortunately get (nearly) everything done with help. suzie will come and help me run errands. (i called and told her that i had to get some euros. she replied, "but it's ten in the morning! well, i guess if that's what you want... " later on in her truck when i requested to go to the big wells fargo in town, she realized that i did not, in fact, ask that she take me for gyros.) while i am running errands meghan will be at my place helping me with the very important task of sock matching. that one had been on the list for months and the microwave-size box was overflowing with loners. but she will go beyond sock matching master and she will have my dishes washed when i return and then she'll help me pack: by physically stuffing assigned clothes in the backpack, by helping me decide what stays and what goes, and by generally helping me keep my shit together. megan was an amazing help and i would have left with things half-done, my baggage messy and incomplete, and miss-matched socks if she wasn't there to help.
so everything ready to go? no, not yet. seth has to finish cleaning, take out the recycling, move the mattress down, write a letter to the building manager and drop off his keys* and virginia is waiting to take us to the airport with baby violet in the car. so i will do more last minute small things and may will come back from work, "you are not at the airport yet? tsk." and help me lug my huge suitcase and backpack down the stairs. christy and laurel will down come down too, and as seth puts his hancock** on his final notice, we will all bid adieu with quick hugs and quick goodbyes, jump in the car, and drive into traffic.
we are late for the plane, the brusk, german woman explains at the lufthansa desk. the cutoff is 3:15 and look, it is 3:25 according to the huge LED behind her, and we cannot make it, and she is sorry. i ask her if there is anything, anything she can do? she asks why we are late. well, we are moving and lots to do, you know. she makes a call and i hear, "yes, they are quite late. tsk." and then looks at us and gestures to the luggage scale saying, "you are too late" and then ignores us for five more minutes. perplexed, we do a quick rearranging of our bag contents so that my huge suitcase is under 50 lbs and then a clerk suddenly pops up from behind the desk, slips tags on, gives us our boarding passes and directs us to the gate.
the plane is completely full and because we are late our seats were given away and we are separated. but a nice neighbor switches his aisle seat with seth's aisle seat and viola, i can hold his hand when the plane takes off, and we can take our respective painkillers that we have be stowing for months, and we can clink our plastic cups of complementary wine.
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*while in this particular instance seth is trailing me, we usually like to take turns making each other nail-bitingly late to the airport.
**for brady
