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Ruth and I departed Fairborn Ohio to the Dayton International Airport Vandalia Ohio at 3:57 am on a Friday morning Oct 22nd for a 6 am flight to Portland Oregon by way of a connecting flight from Atlanta Georgia.

Thursday had been spent packing and getting money from the Credit Union and doing almost nothing more then waiting for this day to arrive. I'm (for once) NOT in my do I have to go moods and grumping about life in general. By nature I am home body. I can travel and if you can get me OUT of the door a trip will go well--it's that first few minutes when hey I'm actually leavng the area and would rather be in bed.

Prior to departure I finished reading Doyle's A Study in Scarlet and chapter one of The Sign of Four here at Litnet. Bid a friend farewell online for a few days and Ruth and I fed the cats and dog and locked up and we were off. Our daughter and son-in-law would be staying the weekend taking care of things so that worry was put to rest so I left the newspaper and mail delivery intact.

Now both Heather and our daughter were born in 1985 and our flight from Dayton was Delta flight 1985 so being a believer of God being the Lord of Coincidences and signs and wonders this first omen of good fortune ahead was welcomed. To add further spice to that the last time I had ever slipped the surly bonds was in 1985. Read any book by Rider Haggard and he fills thems with portents and signs so I am in triple Heaven here. All is well indeed.

There will be one more amazing coincidence later in the day but all in its place.

We weren't sure of the protocol for entering an airport and I saw security all over the place but our presence not being particularly noticed--yet.

I'm expecting a line to the ticket counter. Ummm--nope. The line we are in is actually to passenegrs already in possession of their boarding pass. Ruth spots the signs for the self-serve dispensers. She and I study the instructions carefully and our puzzlement grows.

The computer wants data I don't have. Our flight confirmation is not noted on the printout I have. Our rental car confirmation is listed. Keep THAT little piece of information in mind. It will be important in about seven hours. We touch the screen waiting for the healing effect of recogniiton when an angel of mercy arrives. Making it look all too easy she dispense our boarding pass and I am pleased.

For about 10 seconds. She notices our luggage.

Did I say angel of mercy?

Nope.

Angel of Doom--destroyer of financial stability. It's $25 for 2 bags. We had four items total. $50 was a hit that would be crippling unless we skipped meals (which has happened before). Ruth and I sigh and I do my usual surrendering to Fate without a rage and a cry into the dark night. Though I do plan on whining on my death bed.

Did I say Angel of Doom?

She redeems hereself a bit by catching us on the way to baggage check in with our connector boarding passes we had forgotten to claim. In our defense 25 years out of practice and being spoiled by ticket agents.

Still a $50 hit is a blow. My AAA paycheck isn't due until next week so we were living off Ruth's weekly check form Meijers and I'm already experiencing chocolate withdrawal.

The baggage clerk reassures us however that we were entitled to two items each carry-on and unless we really wanted to check baggage we could save our $50. I bless her, mentally curse the panic inducing other clerk who should stick to boarding pass retrieval and not worry about luggage. Sigh with relief and thank God for His mercy not knowing that $50 was destined to be used in an entirely different manner again thanks to a short sighted clerk. Let's just say I have NO use for Budget Car Rental. A more incompetent lot of clerks I have never known and only my lack of really caring has saved them from my wrath. But I'm getting ahead of myself.

There is something irritating about people that want you to remove your driver's license from the wallet so they hold and feel the plastic and savor the sensation. I make the usual bad ugly old man joke and the security lady laughs. She decides I have a sense of humor and motions me forward. I have few items to deal with in my pockets so that goes well and we follow an endless corridor to our boarding gate and at 5 am I'm sitting down to await the departure and wondering how Dan and Heather are doing.

Now I'm a believer in leaving the bride alone on the day of her ascension but tormenting the groom is always fair game. If I'm up losing beauty sleep and from the looks of my mug on Facebook from the wedding I can use all the beauty sleep I can get Dan can be up.

I call him and he's already up and about.

About to go to work that is. For the Army.

Now mind you he's at a military school at Eglin Air Force Base Florida and getting married tomorrow and Uncle Sam still has him in class.

Back in my day the school would have given him some notes to go over and sent their blessing and be back sharp Monday. Dan's plane won't be in until Midnight Saturday morning. Love on the run so to speak. I let him get back to it assuring him we'll see him at the church. Hopefully. Spoiler alert. He's there.

The plane loads and is filled. One passenger was holding out for a seat upgrade that wasn't happening. Ruth and I are in Zone 4 all the way coming and going and I really have no troubles about that. I let her have the window seat and as the place takes off unexpectedly begin to get nervous. From 1969 to 1985 the years of my flying here and there I recall mostly being bored silly flying but I'm sitting contemplating crashing and burning and Dan and Heather having twins named after us in memory and the Drama Queen contines to whisper her petulant soap opera fantasies. I glance at Ruth as my shield from judgement and after a bit the plane engine noises starts to sooth me and I settle down and only a moment or two on each ffight thereafter do my nerves start to twinge. But the worse is over and I blessedly get back into bored with flying mode and an hour and 5 minutes later the sun rises in Atlanta.

To be continued--

NEXT: I really hate Atlanta airport, the rental car fiasco, the first meeting with Heather while I'm flirting on the phone no less.--you had to be there. And oh yes the Lawn Gnomes.