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October 03, 2008
Oh, October
(And once again ladies and gentlemen...)
Hello, October.
It's only three days old and it's already been delightful.
For the first time (I think ever but I'll have to check my notes) I will be working in a city that has a team in the postseason. I may not actually make it to the game, but the fact that there is the potential to do so alone is exciting.
I remain hopeful for Chicago.
After an on-time, direct flight to Houston last weekend, I found my name on the rental car board, got my space number, and walked to it. I saw the car in the space, figured there was a mistake, walked back to the board, rechecked the number, it hadn't changed, and walked back to the car, put my stuff in it, and drove it away.
It was a brand-new mustang with Sirius satellite radio. Ergo, Coffeehouse and Dave and Maroon 5 for days.
Last night I reversed the trip, and boarded the plane in Houston. I took my aisle seat. As the plane filled up, a group of three ladies boarded. One of them was next to me in the window seat. She was an elderly lady, and while she in no way looked fragile, I offered to move to the window if she wanted the aisle seat.
She did.
When she sat down she asked me if the airplane had a bathroom on it. I said yes, and told her it was in the back. She said she preferred the aisle because it made it easier for her to get to the bathroom. I said it was no problem, that I actually was going to nap, and sitting next to the window suited me better.
Well, I didn't nap at all.
Mary Edith was 77 years old. She had lost her husband three years, almost to the day, earlier. She was travelling with two of her girlfriends on buddy passes because one of her friends' sons-in-law (?) is a pilot.
Mary Edith was known to her friends back home (Iowa) as Edith, but when she and her husband moved to California she began to go by Mary. I called her Mary Edith because that was what she seemed to prefer.
She has four children, seven grandchildren, one of whom, a grandson, also does something with computers, and lives in Washington state. She has three great grandchildren, and three more on the way - one set of twins, girls, and another one of as yet undetermined sex.
She wanted to name one of her daughters Jolene, but her Dad didn't like the name, so she deferred to him. And has always regretted doing so. She hoped one of her twin great granddaughters would have Jolene in her name.
(I got to hoping so too.)
Mary Edith had a wicked sense of humor. I don't have the focus at the moment to tell the whole story about the priest and the weapons, but I will give you the punch line.
I said, "so we asked the priest whether he preferred a .38 or a .22."
Mary Edith said, "if you didn't know the story, that could be taken the wrong way."
She paused, then added, "is that her waist size or her bust size?"
She then mentioned Sarah Palin.
And I told her I really paid no attention to politics, and it was really one of those three things I wouldn't discuss anyway.
She got the hint and we went on to other things.
She asked me if I go to church. I gave her the short answer, no.
Mary Edith wasn't so willing to let that one go. I didn't take any offense at it at all, I just said gently to her that religion was there with politics for me. One of the things about me I simply don't defend to anyone.
She went on for a bit longer. I give her credit for persistence, but eventually I did say to her, "Mary Edith, you're going to have to find another topic of conversation."
Then she got the hint, and we went on to other things.
What she packed. Why she packed it. How she packed it. And whether it was gate checked, or regular checked baggage.
Gatlinburg. The beaches of North Carolina. The Phillipines, Greenville, and Guam.
She still wears her wedding ring, and still has pictures of her husband in her bedroom. She misses him. They were married for 54 years.
At some point Mary Edith asked me where I thought we were, geographically. I took a look out the window, and in that brief moment, Mary Edith leaned across the aisle and struck up a conversation with the young lady in 1A. (Three seats across.)
Very soon, Mary Edith was introducing me to Keeke. Keeke was her real name, it had a familial origin and she liked her name now but didn't while she was younger.
Keeke had recently moved to Houson, had graduated from college five months ago, and worked with very small kids in a very large church in Houston. She was going to visit her family for the weekend.
Keeke was without power for only 24 hours after Ike, and without water for three days. She knew she was one of the very lucky ones.
When we landed and got off the plane, Mary Edith forget to wait for her gate-checked bag. As we walked up the jetway she wondered whether she should go back for it, or whether her girlfriends, who were at the back of the plane, would see it and get it for her.
I suggested that we wait up in the terminal, and if they didn't bring her bag, I would go down and get it for her.
So while we were standing there saying that, a man from the flight said that her friends down the jetway had seen Mary Edith's bag sitting there, discussed the possibility that she had forgotten it, and were bringing it to her.
Mary Edith introduced me to her two friends. Mary Edith told them that when she got on the plane I had said I was going to nap. Julia said to me, "I bet you didn't get any sleep at all."
She said that everywhere they go they have to pull Mary Edith away from conversations with people.
I was not surprised in the least.
Nor was I surprised we landed early.
October just has that way about it.
In other yesterday news, I made the decision on what and where for my new tattoos. I'm getting two, although just one in October. I'm going to put off the third one until December when I go to Guam.
Just because I can.
And I haven't even mentioned October's best news thus far.
I have 11 days at home centered around my birthday.
And I STILL haven't mentioned October's best news thus far.
And don't intend to. It's mine.
Happy birthday to me.
Written by Angela Tanner. October 3, 2008 11:59 AM