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Top Ten List of Travel Affirmations

This past weekend, I attended my niece’s bat mitzvah.  Now, I could get maudlin and weepy, (which I’m known to do) and I could pontificate on the bittersweet subject of children growing up and time passing as the song Memories plays in my head. I could obsess over the fact that we all have a few more lines on our faces, or grays on our heads, or muse over the palpable absence of loved ones, the aunts and uncles whom we elevated to immortal status , and yet eventually succumbed to the same fate as everyone else. 

I could elaborate on the fact that this momentous and special occasion fell on the same terrible weekend as 9/11 and that my heart was painfully contorted into a mangled, labyrinth of emotion.  It reminded me of the time I attended a funeral while I was six months pregnant.  As I watched the burial at the cemetery, I could simultaneously feel tiny life affirming flutter kicks deep within, reminding me of life’s cyclical and seemingly unjust balance. 

Yes, I could truly focus on the philosophy of life as life cycle occasions usually force us to take stock of our lives and all we hold dear.  I could sit here and cry over the passing of time (with or without chocolate), or lament the things I haven’t achieved.   However, since, I woke my kids up on Sunday at 3:30 a.m. after they fell asleep at 1:30 a.m., to catch a 5:45 a.m. flight, my mind is still a bit short circuited from lack of sleep.  Therefore, I can only concentrate on the non-philosophical for now, because when you are overwhelmed by emotion, and sleep deprived at the same time, it’s easier to cope by focusing on the mundane.  So, here is my lame attempt.
Top Ten List of Travel Affirmations

1.       Glaring overhead lighting in airport bathrooms is not a good look for any bedraggled traveler.

2.       Not loving the full length mirrors in hotels either.

3.       The fact that my daughter takes 10-second showers in a hotel and turns out all the lights but takes 10-hour showers at home and lets the electricity burn is curious to me.

4.       Wal-Mart looks the same in every state.

5.       Driving a rented Buick Crown Victoria was not good for my image.

6.       Watching 9/11 footage waiting for my plane did not bode well for my nerves.

7.       Regional propeller planes do not bode well for my nerves either.

8.       When the pilot says to a passenger, “Dude, I didn’t know you were on this flight,” one pauses for thought at who’s flying the plane.

9.       When the pilot is not that much older than your two children’s ages combined….not good.

10.   My kids LOOOOVVVVEEEE serious turbulence…guess I don’t have to take them Disney.

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