Making A Life

This week I flew for the first time since I had a shiny metal plate bolted to my skull. One of the top questions from people after surgery was “do you think that you will set off the metal detector at the airport”? I went through one metal detector in Canada and one in the US this week. I was actually a little nervous that I would set them off, need to explain the situation, and flash my scar. It’s not really a big deal if I was flying solo, but I had my kidlets in tow. The whole security process at the airport is difficult even if you are really good at it from years of weekly travel like me, add kids into the mix and I feel like it’s a circus act which I have yet to master.

It turns out that I had nothing to worry about, I didn’t even make a tiny beep, it was smooth sailing except for the need to strip down to get through security and then wrangle the sleepy kids back into their coats. So in case you were wondering if that metal plate in my head would set off the metal detector, the answer is no.

The whole family flying together adventure makes me nervous though. The last trip we took Air Canada gave my two year old a seat in the middle of two strangers mid-plane a seat for me at the front of the plane, and his dad and five year old brother seats together  in the rear of the plane. It got sorted at the gate at the last minute because obviously no logical human thinks that a two year old flying without their adult is a smart idea. It’s bad enough to be seated close to a child but it’s just mean to put an active two year old between strangers. I have been that stranger seated beside a random child when the parent wasn’t within sight, of course I shifted seats with the parent but shame on Air Canada for putting people in that position.

So when I saw that I couldn’t choose seats when I booked the tickets and I got a notification that they would be assigned at the gate all that I could envision is a situation where the four of us are scattered through out the cabin. I actually contemplated calling the airline so that they could put a note in our file when assigning seats. I was pleasantly  surprised when I went online to check in and they had given us seats together. Kudos to you Alaskan Airlines your computer program that matches parents and children works, now if you could share your logic with Air Canada that would be great. My first thought after I got all of us checked in was “I will sleep well tonight”, it was that important to me. First world problems I know.

If you read this far I think you deserve a treat. Here are some shots that I took from the plane.