off to NJ/PA

Tomorrow I head to the airport to catch a flight for the holiday weekend. It is almost 9 p.m. here in Phoenix and I haven't done the first thing about packing. Why do I always do this? I wait until late on the night before my trip to pack. When I get started, I frequently find that I need to wash something to take with me. Then I am up late getting everything done. So I don't get enough sleep and I am tired before I begin the trip. I need to be there two hours early. The flight is five hours. Then I have an hour drive. That is eight hours - after a full day at the office.

Despite the fact that I am Gold with U.S. Airways, there was no automatic upgrade to first class. I should have known better on a holiday weekend! That's okay, I have the next best thing, which is an aisle seat on the exit row. I mostly find that I am surrounded by other frequent fliers, which is nice - no small talk, just a quiet, uneventful ride. On my last cross country trip, I spilled an entire plastic cup of ginger ale in my lap. The businessman next to me was so annoyed that he had to help me. I wanted to slug him. But I didn't.

Do you think it is amazing that a huge plane, weighing 64 tons, can actually get up off the ground? I do. Every time we are in take-off, I am thinking to myself that it can't be possible to do what we are doing. But then I have a moment of magical thinking. In that moment I imagine that my thoughts about it not being possible could possibly make it impossible and I convince myself that if I keep thinking about it that the plane will fall to the ground. Too much Tinkerbell as a child, I suppose. So I try to make myself stop. But have you ever tried that? Do it now. For the next 60 seconds, do NOT think about a purple elephant. See? It just doesn't work. I just have to keep believing that there is something else besides positive thoughts from me that is keeping us in the air.