NOV 3, 17 .. SAFE IN ANCHORAGE, ALASKA

Writing can be a catharsis. This is what this Post is all about. Airing out my mind.

IF .. THE BIG IF ..

I believe ..

And, as a member of the male sex this is my very own personal opinion, but I want you all to know..

I believe that IF a woman could remember .. really and truly remember and bring back into her conscious mind ALL of the experiences (morning sickness .. I feel like I weigh a ton .. what is with this child inside of me kicking around .. arr-g-g-g that labor pain sure hurt .. my water just broke .. it’s time to pant like a puppy .. squeeze down hard .. etc et al) of conceiving and bearing and birthing a child complete with the postpartum depression experience and add in the terrible twos there might be more one child families! Help me out ladies with telling me more of the grief I have no clue about.

In the field of addiction and alcoholism .. One of many factors but at least a MAJOR factor in relapse is the inability to remember .. to REALLY remember .. how bad it was. We tend to remember only the good times and the positive experiences.

IF I .. your very own Captain .. could remember .. REALLY REMEMBER .. how frustrating and agonizing and disgusting and infuriating airline travel CAN BE (not could but absolutely IS) I simply would NOT continue to make these trips.

The trouble being : It’s what I do (thanks Payton Manning).

You would think that yours truly has never before been on an airline flight. I seem to completely and blithely forget the whole getting-ready-to-go issue that is so difficult for me. I seem to forget the hassle it has become to go through security. The trip that Patti and I made yesterday (Detroit to Seattle, Seattle to Anchorage) was one of my most difficult security experiences ever. You would have thought that this 81-year old, clean cut and fairly presentable man WAS THE MAN security has been waiting for to BUST and thus justify their existence. My CPAP machine was an issue with them. Then my laptop was an issue with them. Then I (as in ME) was an issue for them. I was pat-pat-patted down not once, not twice, but three times. Head to toe with some intense attention to the area between my knees and belly button. Most noticeably that area about half way between my knees and belly button. The area that starts with the letter ‘c’ and rhymes with the words notch and botch. Patti was wondering what on this good earth is going on with Cap and security. Well I survived that and we boarded and were seated.

IF I .. your very own Captain .. could remember .. REALLY REMEMBER  how the experience of flying for 5 hours feels. Then how a very tight connection in Seattle feels. Then how flying another 3-1/2 more hours feels. All of this after the packing out to fly scenario played out. After taking one very nasty fall coming down the stairs in our Royal Oak home about 2-hours before we were going to go to Detroit Metro to begin the check in / boarding process. We finally got into bed in Anchorage after a 22-hour, two flight day. Like women and addicts, I seem to fail to remember just how a 22-hour flying day feels. Patti and I were both numb when we fell into bed early this morning. Now I have to deal with a small (but significant) 4-hour jet lag.

The flights themselves were nice. We had, on each flight, one 3-seat row to ourselves. Patti sat at the window. I sat on the aisle. The seat between us was empty as was the area in front of that middle seat and all of THAT was great.

Why Me God? What Exactly Did I Do To Deserve This God?

Gullilble, are you tuned in here? What exactly seems to be happening here Gullible?As the flight attendant served Patti and I our dinners (we had to purchase them as dinner was not included on either flight) he looked down at the two of us, smiled, and said..

“I am comping you (giving us dinner for free) your dinner.”

To preserve our great relationship, after we picked up our truck out of storage, I came to the library to give Patti a lot of ‘space’ at the condo to do as she needs to do which is considerable. I wrote Patti a very loving Thank You Card telling her thanks for coming to bed with me at o’dark o’clock last night instead of (as she usually does) staying up for hours to begin her in-processing process.

I had forgotten how PITCH BLACK DARK Alaska can be in November.

I texted a friend that one someday a yet to be experienced flight would be my last flight ever.

Conclusion : This too shall pass. It always has up to now.

I just updated our TRAVEL PAGE and said that, as of this instant, we two have NO TRAVEL PLANS.

Patti is probably thinking to herself..

“This may not be all bad. I can think of few better places for Cap to run out of energy than to do it here in Anchorage.”

In case the below experience quietly slipped past you in the fog of the above grief I will repeat it.

About 2-hours before we were due to leave the house and head out to Detroit Metro to begin the check in / boarding process, I took one very nasty fall coming down the stairs in our Royal Oak home.

I was not rushing. I was coming down the stair slowly. I was focusing on what I was doing. I was holding both a right and a left handrail securely. Two steps from the ground floor, the back of my right heel did not clear the step and I fell forward with a scream that awoke Andrej who was sleeping and scared the daylights out of Patti.

The fall was a real bummer. My left hip replacement did not like the fall nor did my spine appreciate it either. I did NOT go down but I sure jolted the dickens out of my body.

Back in November of 2014, as we were about to leave the home in Royal Oak, I took a bad fall in our upstairs bedroom. I stepped on a throw-rug that was on a polished wood floor and down I went onto my back with a thud.

Back in / around November of the year 2010 a friend up in the North was going out the door of a residence in Fairbanks to catch a flight to Arizona to winter. He slipped and fell and broke his leg and hip in seven places. He was never the same again.

Several winters ago I was walking / inching along here in Anchorage going out to our trash dumpster with two canes, each with ice spikes on their ends, and I still fell.

Old people fall and age 81-years is not exactly young. And I seem to be falling down in spite of my best efforts not to do so.

There is no answer to this. IF you want to get from Detroit to Anchorage, you will fly. IF you stop over and stay a night or two in Seattle, that is costly and you then start anew with security in Seattle.

Well I think the time has come (as the Walrus said) to close this Post off and press publish.

“Publish it? Why not just delete this entire mess Captain.”  /Sign us / The committee within your head.

Hanging in with fingers and toes..

Patti and Cap

After I get home, after Patti proof-reads this, the two of us are going out to Piper’s for nachos. This I do know : After a good nights sleep, things will certainly look better.

• ← NOV 2, 17 .. WE ARE AT OUR DETROIT DEPARTURE GATE.
• NOV 5, 17 .. WELCOME HOME PATTI AND CAP /sign me as / MISS ALASKA →