So we finally get to the airport, where my son decides (a) he is very thirsty, and (b) he isn’t going to walk. Since we’re running behind, I had to carry him, along with our bags. The security check was a fiasco; I stacked my laptop on my bag (because I was already using six or seven trays), which is apparently a no-no. Then I set off the metal detector. Another trip through, sans keys and belt. I get through, then put the boy’s shoes on and gather our things. Still sweating.

We finally get to the gate ten or fifteen minutes later and sit down with some McD’s. I sat directly under the A/C unit, and finally stopped sweating. I couldn’t tell myself, but my assumption is that I smell like I’ve been sweating all afternoon. “This is some bad juju right here.”

The first leg of the trip is fine. We sat at the back of the plane next to a guy who slept the whole time. We were stopping in Amarillo without switching planes, so we moved up to row 2, next to a woman in her twenties. I didn’t think much of it, because the second leg was only an hour. Or it was supposed to be. 

Once they finished the passenger count they announced that Denver had been having weather all day, and now that it was clear there was a backup of planes trying to land. So we got off and waited in the palatial Amarillo Airport, Hair Care and Tire Center. There was one bathroom, and one cafe, where they offered cold sandwiches, cereal, and yogurt. 

They told us it could be up to two and a half hours, but about an hour later, at 8:15 or so, they told us to get on the plane. We sat on the runway for about a half hour, then were in the air. 

A while later, still in the air, I looked out the window and saw a huge anvil cloud, which I pointed out to my son. We made awe-filled sounds as we watched the lightning flash, and I thought for a moment that I might be looking at the storm that had been ruining things so far, but I let it go. 

I should have held on to that thought. Not that I could have done anything about it. So we circle for an hour. Then we land in Colorado Springs. We hoped to get off the plane, but we just sat on the runway for an hour before heading into DIA, where we landed shortly after midnight Mountain time.

For five hours that poor woman had to sit next to my sweat-scented butt with no ventilation or relief. That poor, poor, woman…