Musings From a Captive Audience

With a storm predicted (according to the New Zealand Herald, "the size of the planet"), we set off for the airport. We left on time with no dramas except for Lloyd being randomly selected for a special search. Lucky us!

Anyway.

I don't sleep on airplanes; I just don't. So I got to thinking about things. Annoying things.

Poor, poor screaming babies. Good thing the screaming baby directly behind us was cute and loved the stuffed animal Lloyd gave him. That animal had the desired effect and he was a screaming baby no longer.

Crinkle packaging. You know those snack packs they give you before "sleep time"? I hate it when everything and everyone is quiet and someone nearby opens a packet of chips and starts crunching away. Eating those chips one. By. One. Crinkling the package every. Single. Time. And, I'm sorry but it seems to always be someone who does not need another chip as long as he/she lives!

I wait and wait and hope and pray for Lloyd to settle and at long last fall asleep so I can close my eyes and rest and then spend a ridiculous amount of time staring at his beautiful sleeping face. Silly mum!

Neck cushions. I'm sure they are quite functional for some but come on. Must they wear them to the toilet? Really? Are they that lazy or what?

Businessmen and the Great Armrest Takeover. Please. Such bruised egos. Poor them.

We made it! And I experienced such simple joy just knowing I was back on the same day as my family and so many friends!

Miss Popularity

NOT!

Not even close. Not yesterday anyway. But come on; I am so sick of being sick it isn't even funny. So tired. So sick and tired of looking sick and tired. All of you who I am going to see in the States shortly, brace yourselves; it isn't pretty this face -- but I'll be smiling so that's what matters. So you just keep those tanned faces straight from summer smiling too and we'll be fine, just fine.

And poor Lloyd. I have never heard a child cough so hard and so much in the night through sleep as he has been doing. Night after night after night.

And he's got no appetite. Now that's hard to take. Because feed him is what I do. And now he's not hungry so now what.

It'll be alright.

And we've got the countdown! 10 days to go until we get on and off a few airplanes and arrive the same day in Boston! Very exciting indeed.

I'm interested in this first visit to see how I feel about things and what reactions I have to the way things are and the way things are done and I'm sure I will quite naturally find myself comparing here and there.

I'll write about it here so watch this space.