*editorial note: Keep in mind that this entry was written in October, 2001.
I spent last weekend in San Diego, where the sun was out and the skies were clear. It was nice to be in weather that felt almost like home. The only difference was that it was so obviously *not* home. But that’s ok. It’s been so cold here in WA that the warm was nice.
The airplane was a different story. Coming home we were delayed a bit, so I had to sit around in the airport and wait. I found a seat on the ground and read a magazine I had picked up in the airport gift shop. Some guy comes along and puts down this large garment bag near me, and proceeds to disappear around the corner. Meanwhile an airport recording keeps playing over the loudspeaker. Something about it being against Federal Law to leave bags unattended. The security in San Diego’s Airport is way scarier than in Seattle. The military guys who stand around as security are holding out these big guns, hands on the trigger. READY TO SHOOT. In sea tac they’re just standing around. If they have weaponry on them, it’s concealed.
So this guy leaves his bag next to me and I start to draw conclusions in my head. The bag is full of Anthrax. He’s going to leave it here in the terminal so people going on all kinds of flights to all kinds of places will become infected. He left it sitting next to me so that airport staff and security would believe it to be mine. Or perhaps it’s full of explosives, and I will be the first in line to meet my maker. All I could think was that with my being so close to the thing, it would be all over for me so quick.
I wanted to walk away from it, but there wasn’t anywhere else for me to sit. I didn’t want to look like I was overreacting. I waited it out. Turns out he was on a pay phone.
The flight home was just as bad. It was very full so I didn’t get to stretch out. “We” (according to the guy who makes the announcement over the speaker) were preparing for landing in Sea-Tac when we hit some turbulence. The captain had already warned us, so it wasn’t a big deal at all. But then we started to come down closer to the ground. The whole plane was shaking - not shaking, but tilting from side to side. We figured it would stabilize as we got cloder to the ground, but the plane just wouldn’t stop rolling from side to side. What made it even worse was that *everyone* in the plane was nervously looking out the windows, shaking their heads from left to right, to see out from each side.
It’s just so much worse to see that everyone on the plane is as nervous about it as you. Plus I was alone. There’s nothing like coming in for a fast and shaky landing while sitting between two strangers.
Obviously we made it out ok. The whole plane breathed a sigh of relief when we hit the runway and began to slow down. The pilot got applause from us all.
I don’t want to fly again for awhile.
