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Tuesday, September 22, 2015

Trying The Door - Part 2


The Delay

After clearing the metal detectors without the need of a strip search, I regained some of my composure.  As I headed for the gate, a magazine caught my attention in the gift shop.  "New Woman" seemed appropriate to my condition and maybe it would contain some helpful hints.

"You look great and there is no need to change the ticket."  the female gate agent said.  "I would not have known, if you had not told me."  Life is great.  I was floating on air and had not left the gate yet.  

After boarding, I settled into my window seat, checked my makeup, and began reading my "New Woman" instruction manual.  A thirty-something man sat in my row of seats on the isle, and we exchanged smiles.  I knew that this was all that would be required and he would not expect conversation unless I initiated it.  It is interesting how women do have control from this standpoint.

"This is your Captain.  There are thunderstorms in the Dallas area and we are going to delay our departure until can get a landing time there.  Our delay should not be more than twenty minutes."  After forty-five minutes the captain said that anyone who wanted could go back into the terminal and wait there.

I choose to stay on board along with several other women and did enjoy reading, "Woman's Day" and "COSMO".  I was just about to start on "Mechanics Illustrated" when the captain called re-boarding.  The gentleman, who was setting next to me, had taken full advantage of the boarding area bar, and without hesitation started giving me his life's story.  I knew that next, he might want my life's history and in his condition I knew he could not handle that.  Also I knew that once we got above ten thousand feet he would be sound asleep and would leave me alone. So I kept the conversation to a minimum.

It was just about that time that I started to be concerned about what the delay had done to my connection in Dallas.  I guessed that all flights had been delayed including my connecting flight and I probably was safe.  On the other hand, I also knew that landing in San Diego were limited after 11:00 PM and we would be very close on making that arrival time.  Much was going to depend on just how smooth everything would go in Dallas if I could get in before the airport closing.

I relaxed, checked my makeup to make sure no beard was coming through, and enjoyed my dinner when served.  Everything seemed different.  Traveling as my male self, I always felt rushed and pushed.  During the delay, I would have been making business phone calls, trying to make other travel arrangement and would have been generally fluster by the way things were going.  Type "A" behavior. But that day I felt at ease, as if there really was nothing I could do to change things, and I was certainly more willing to subscribe to the situation.  

For me, that was a pleasant change.  

1 comment:

  1. Good post. It is interesting that the fears of all the "What ifs" you noted in your prior post were replaced with a calmness as your female personna came forward to tame the type A guy.

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