A Fairer Spot on Earth

We had an early morning flight from another town so we left the afternoon before and stayed in a hotel. After dinner we told each other, as we often did, ok we have to get some sleep tonight so when we go to bed we can't stay up all night. So we went to bed early but one thing led to another, minutes turned into hours, and as usual got very little sleep.

We woke up a little late and bleary eyed but excited, I rushed to get ready and he carried everything out and went to warm up the car. I rushed down, the automatic doors opened, I walked out and was instantly disoriented. There was snow everywhere and it rarely snows where we lived, I had to stop and think if I was still asleep and dreaming or we were already there and I had forgotten. Neither of us had any idea it was supposed to snow and we laughed because he had the same reaction when he walked outside.

Luckily we were close to the airport but we knew we were going to be cutting it close and this made it even worse. We had nothing to scrape the windows with so I pulled out a credit card and cleared a small patch and he just laughed and said you are just never phased, and we were on our way. The driving was slow and dangerous but he was good at it and plowed on. He was worried about missing the flight but I told him not to worry, the worse that can happen is we miss our flight and take another one. We barely made it in time, but they hadn't called for final boarding and to me that was a lot of time so I stopped for a caffeine fix, he waited patiently, amazed at my lack of compulsive concern about time and never said anything.

Finally we got on the plane, in our seats, and then they announced they were going to have to de-ice the plane and there would be at least an hour delay before take off. See, I said, everything is fine and was meant to be, and aren't you glad we have snacks and drinks while no one else does! It took him a little bit to relax, travelling like so many other things in his other life, had always been filled with stress and anxiety but as soon as he was with me the stress would melt away and everything was easy and fun. He had always told me how whenever he flew he would fall asleep immediately, usually before take off, but we talked, and read, and laughed and before we knew it we were there, and he was amazed he hadn't slept especially given how sleep deprived we were.