Safe Seat

Time to leave Phoenix and come back to reality.

We packed our bags, said goodbye to Son Tony, and headed towards the airport.  Our first stop was a Subway restaurant to get food for lunch.  I was surprised (but pleased) they'd be ready to make me a Spicy Italian sandwich at 9:30 in the morning.

We dropped the rental car off and took the shuttle to the airport.  Our group arrived at the gate with plenty of time to spare, only to find out the plane was running late.  We ended up boarding almost 45 minutes late, but we had a bit of free entertainment while we waited--one of the flight stewards was sitting on the floor next to the boarding area softly strumming a guitar while he waited to start working.

At the gate they made an announcement that the plane was completely full.  Brian, Nicole, and Donald took seats in a row close to the back of the plane. Tony and I sat in front of them-he was by the window, and I optimistically sat by the aisle.  As the majority of passengers filed in, no one chose to take the empty seat between us.  I was hopeful that they were wrong and I'd end up with no one next to me.  However, one of the last people to get on was a was tall, big, muscular man.  Guess which row he decided on?

I moved over to the center to be next to Tony and settled in for a long flight.  The man raised his armrest because the room in his seat wasn't quite enough. In talking with my new seatmate, I found out he was an ex-NFL offensive lineman.  He was a nice guy, and seemed to be apologetic about infringing on my space.

The plane stopped in Kansas City and when we got to choose new seats our group moved up to the front.  I told Tony I was taking the aisle seat, and he could do whatever he wanted.  He sat by the window.  Unfortunately, the flight was completely full again, but this time I got to share the row with a petite lady.  Life was good.

The plane landed, and we caught the shuttle to the parking garage.  It only took a couple of minutes after we got home for the family to start scattering back to their homes.  What a great vacation!