12.3.2003 Thanksgiving Travel

Hope your Thanksgiving was fun. Ours was alright -- went down to Houston and spent time with Elizabeth's family. Elizabeth and Megan will be staying there until after New Years and I'll be pinging back and forth until then. Yes, I miss them. And I'll have to spend a lot of time all by my lonesome fat self, in my head, a dangerous paranoid place sometimes.

We were a bit nervous about traveling with Megan. It was the first time and we weren't sure what to expect.

Honestly, before Megan came along, I was always one of those who would avoid sitting near someone with a baby. If I happen to find myself in that situation, I would factitiously smile, yet let out a sigh on the inside. Only real reason was because it was bound to be one of those scenes where the baby would blaringly start crying, alike a siren, screaming at the top of their lungs and this was just too annoying to handle. It was just bound to happen. I knew it, and I tried my best to avoid it.

But my perception has since changed -- a hundred and eighty degrees actually. And I don't mind the crying too much, either from Megan, or from anyone else's child, as a matter of fact. It's different on the other side of the fence.

Well, traveling on the Wednesday right before Thanksgiving -- the most busiest and brutal travel day of the year. Elizabeth, Grandma, and myself, were going to fly from New York down to Houston with a stopover in Atlanta. Difficult enough on it's own - but now, even more difficult with a two and a half month old baby.

We were a bit nervous.

Over the course of the previous week, we practiced, performed dry runs and tried to prepare for different scenarios. There's the two-handed-luggage-lift-and-sweep for those shifting movements while waiting in check-in lines, the one-handed-baby-carry-and-position-slide, and the ever so popular baby-and-carry-on-parent-juggle. We had it all planned out. To help assist us, we tried using a baby carrier where Megan would rest vertically snug against my chest, while both of my arms would then be free. This product was widely tooted as being very effective in allowing the baby to feel secure -- resting against the parent's heartbeat is soothing, reminding them of the time when they were in utero.

Hey, works for me.

She hated it -- absolutely positively hated it. She cried and hollered at the top of her lungs. She approved of it while she felt my arms hugging her, like I usually carry her, but when I moved them away to lift the bags, her eyebrows and forehead furrowed, lips pouted and opened slightly, signifying the glooming crying that was about to begin. This just wasn't going to happen and we were going to have to find other techniques.

Well, the infamous day finally came as we loaded up the car, and journeyed forth, onward to the airport.

Surprisingly, there were no lines. Not for us. The news all reported heavy people traffic at the airports, hours upon hours waiting in lines, but we were fortunate. No lines. Not much other people either. Throughout the plane ride, Megan rested on our laps and she was very well behaved as well. Woo hoo! Two for two! No crying except to let us know she was hungry or her diaper needed changing, other than that, she slept soundly and coo-ed with me when she was in the mood.

We figured it was a toss up, cause the odds were in favor of who's genes she had. You see, I have these highly tuned muscles near my ears that help relieve pressure. With a simple flick, my ears are cleared. (Yeah, my special mutant super power. I can also flare my nostrils for all of those who are interested. Hmm, other superheroes fly or are incredibly strong. I flick my ear muscles and flare my nostrils. Maybe this'll come in handy when I come up against Air Pressure Man one day. I can kick his ass. Who knows.)

But poor Elizabeth. I love her so, but she's not endowed with these abilities. Not sure if it's due to the lack of these muscles, or just that my facial dexterity is so highly acute. Not sure if it's a skill that can be created either. Maybe once someone has it, it can be improved upon, but one has to have it first -- kind of like 'the force'.

In any case, sometimes Elizabeth doesn't do too well on flights due to the rapid changing air pressure and it just looks so uncomfortable for her. This meant that it was going to be like night or day for Megan. And noted previously, she did well on the flights that day.

When I reread this in a few years, I'll be sure to ask her about these special super powers.

Mental Note -- Peter, ask Megan about the special super powers to instantaneously clear your ears (and, maybe the flaring nostrils).