Plane Trips I Have Known

Flying to Nashville yesterday for Granddad's birthday brought to mind another trip we made to Nashville for another family birthday. This one was ten years ago, on the occasion of Jason's grandmother's 80th birthday. This trip, however, wasn't so easy to manage as our trip was yesterday.

When the plans first developed for the celebration, our little family decided that Jason and Jericho should go and represent our family. I think we chose Jason because of course it was his grandmother, and Jericho because he was the easiest to travel with. We were living in Prague at the time, and it was no easy (or cheap) hop over the ocean to attend these family events. The plan was for me to stay home with Jacob, who was 9 months at the time.

However, as we got closer and closer to the event, I began to really want to go, too, and so we decided that Jacob and I would also attend. The problem with this was that Jason and Jericho already their plane tickets, and there proved to be no additional tickets on their flights. As a result, we decided that Jacob and I would take our own overseas path to Nashville, and meet up with Jason and Jericho there.

Thus, the adventure began.

As best as I can remember, it, here's how it all worked. (I really need a visual aid for this story to show each flight path in a different color, but oh, well.) Jason and Jericho started their journey in Prague, of course, and then flew their first leg from Prague to Paris. Their second leg was Paris to Atlanta. Once there, they rented a car and drove from Atlanta to Nashville. Jacob and I started in Prague, as well, but on our first leg we got to travel with my mom, who was just flying home to Texas after a visit with us. We flew with her on that first leg from Prague to Berlin, and then we went our separate ways from there. She flew from Berlin to Houston (and then Austin), while Jacob and I flew from Berlin to Nashville.

The intricacies of flying alone with a nine month old could fill its own blog post, but I will leave that to a later date. To sum it up, it's really hard and stressful and largely no fun. However, it was worth it, because at the end of this journey was the promise of a huge, fun surprise for our family. This was because we didn't tell our family we were coming. Well, my mom knew, of course, but our Tennessee part of the family had no clue - it was a complete surprise.

It was a little tricky to figure out how to get them to pick Jacob and me up at the airport without telling them we were coming, but fortunately we were able to pull it off with a combination of believable events, and, well, trickery. In the months before the birthday, I had been compiling Grandma's recipes from all of the family members and putting them into scrapbook form to give to her at the gathering. Of course, the family was puzzling how to get the scrapbook to the party, since (as far as they knew), we weren't coming. Fortunately, this gave us the perfect solution to our problem. We just emailed them and told them that there was an American visitor in Prague for a few weeks (a very believable thing), and that (could you believe it) he was going to be flying into Nashville the very day before the party weekend (wow, what a coincidence). We added that if some family member could just meet him at the plane as the passengers departed, he said he would deliver the scrapbook into their waiting hands. I think we even gave a detailed description of this mystery visitor.

Yes, we lied. And yes, they bought into it, and as a result, Jason's sister and brother-in-law were there waiting as Jacob and I got off the plane in Nashville. Of course, they were surprised, as were all of the family members gathered at Jason's parents' house when we arrived there a little while later. It was really fun.

Even more fun was the fact that I (as was our plan), didn't tell them that Jason and Jericho were coming. I lied again and said that Jason had to do some work things and just couldn't come, so he and Jericho stayed home while Jacob and I came. Of course, as these false words were coming out of my mouth, Jason and Jericho were picking up the rental car in Atlanta and making the drive to Lebanon.

We went several hours under this guise. We had dinner, and perhaps we even had birthday cake that evening. We were all sitting around the dinner tables out in the "new room" of the house, when we noticed the headlights of a car pulling up into the driveway. Someone quipped, "Now, wouldn't that be funny if that were Jason. Ha ha ha." And a few seconds later, he and Jericho walked in.

It was really fun. In fact, it was the definition of delight to see his mother and father cry and hug him and Jericho, as every family member was now there at this celebration.

If was also gratifying to know that we had pulled it off, and despite the complexity of it, survived it. Of course, we did take a little flak for all that lying, but I (for this one time only) would have to say that it was worth it. We were all together as a family for a very important family event, and things like that don't happen very often in life.

Of course, at the end of the week's stay in Tennessee, we had to go back to Prague our separate ways, but that, too, is another post...

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The Quest for Comfortable Airplane Napping

Tonight I'm thinking about sleeping on airplanes. Our family took a long airplane trip from California to Nashville today in order to help celebrate Jason's grandfather's 90th birthday this weekend.

Actually, our two-part flight and all the things that went with it (security lines, airport logistics) were just fine. However, I have found that if you want to take a nap on a plane, there is just one good seat to be in to do that. That would be the window seat, and today I wasn't there. Since we got up early to drive to Oakland, CA to catch our flight, I was getting a little sleepy as the day went on. However, being that I was in the center seat, I decided to keep myself awake doing other things. I just didn't want to do the head nod thing as I dozed off - especially with strangers sitting right beside me. It's just so embarrassing - you're dozing off happily, thinking your head is secure in its position back against the headrest, when - wham! your chin hits your sternum and you are not only rudely jerked awake, you also are furtively glancing around to see if anyone noticed.

I've been seeing people with those u-shaped head pillows, and they look kind of promising for potential airplane napping. However, it seems to me that they would mainly support the back of your neck and below your ears, but not under your chin, where most of the head bobbing occurs. Don't you wear them with the opening under your chin? Even if you wore them backwards, with the opening at the back, it seems like they wouldn't be tall enough to completely support your head, rendering you bob-less. It seems that you might need something taller, like the full neck brace you might wear after a neck injury, to completely hold your head up. Perhaps a neck brace in a padded version.

My idea for optimal plane or car sleepage would be some kind of soft fabric band that goes around the back of the head rest and then also across your forehead. This would allow you to doze peacefully, with your head softly secured to the head rest. Of course, this would never work on the longer flights, as your head band would obscure the television of the person behind you. Perhaps you could use some old nylon stocking, so they would be kind of transparent, allowing for optimal screen viewage - all though I'm sure there might be some resistance from travelers to the idea of wearing old stockings on their heads.

In a pinch, I suppose one could use a pair of large, soft boxer shorts to gently anchor one's head to the headrest, although the mental image of passengers with pairs of boxers on their heads is just to comical to pursue.

Ah, well. I'll work on the headband idea. Or perhaps I'll just hope for a window seat from now on.

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A Keen Resemblance

Not long ago, we had the relative of a good friend spend the night at our house. The good friend is Cathy, who made the long drive with us from Morgantown to California. The relative was her sister Michelle, who was headed to Yosemite for the weekend, and needed a place to crash for the night.I enjoyed meeting and talking with Michelle, but the thing that I appreciated the most about her was her laugh. It sounded just like Cathy's, and just hearing it made me immediately warm to her sister, without really knowing her at all.

I've had that experience once before, although it was many years ago. It was a situation where I met someone new, and a physical trait of that just-met person completely reminded me of the person I already knew. It happened when I first met Jason's grandfather's sister.

This was the first time I had met Aunt Margaret, and I have to admit that I didn't know what to think at first. If I can say this before everyone in Blogworld, she seemed a little firm and stand-offish. She also seemed very self-confident (which is a trait that I must say does seem to run in certain members of that side of the family). However, at one point, I looked across the dinner table at her, and saw that she had the exact same twinkling blue as Jason's grandfather, Ted. And just like that, I liked her. I immediately felt that she was clever and witty, as well as kind and very wise. Yes, it was the transitive property (If a=b, and b=c, then a=c) all over again, in an physical trait/emotional kind of way. Actually, I suppose that it's not really that. It's not that I knew at that point that Aunt Margaret carried all of those positive attributes that Jason's grandfather does (although she may). In truth, this was more than anything a sign of my deep affection for Jason's grandfather, because just Aunt Margaret had his eyes, she also received all the admiration and love that I have for him.

Great-Grandad will be 90 this weekend. Unfortunately, these same eyes have been the one thing that has hindered him from enjoying life most in his old age. He can no longer see to read or write, two of the things that always brought him to the most pleasure.

It is a grieving factor to think that the eyes that to me are symbolic of all the love that I have for him are not bringing him joy as they once did. However, I still feel blessed by his eyes, and know that the loss of function in them won't dim what I see in them - wisdom, knowledge, joy, and love.

Happy Birthday, Granddad.

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