Flying with Michael
Apr. 26th, 2006 12:39 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
jack_babalonYesterday morning: Couldn't sleep. Tossed and turned and couldn't stop remembering. It's like I wanted to extract as much time as I could from the home before I left it forever. That and I have one of those vicious brains that won't let me sleep when I know I have to get up early. I finally get up at 3:30 and sit in the living room with the lights out. Waiting.
Dad drops me off at the Delta Gates. It's ten to five in the morning and there's already a mob scene in the airport of predawn commuters. I stand on line after the other and the whole time my skull is throbbing with insomnia and mental exhaustion. Everything around me seems to be detached and yet filled with meaning at the same time. Perhaps when I go without sleep for significant periods of time the need for my brain to dream manifests itself into my 'real' world by filtering the enviornment around me into a slightly off kilter version of itself.
Finally I take my seat. I'm in luck in that I get to sit next to a young lady with long blond hair, a bronze tan and a smile as bright as the morning to come. Of course she's married and her baby lays on her lap like a cub sleeping gently under the lioness protection. The story is that they're on their way to Oakland, California of which Atlanta is merely a lay over. I help her with her luggage, I hold the tiny milk bottle while she rummages through her purse for her childs medicine and make a little chit chat with her.
"This was Michaels first time to Ft.Lauderdale. Wasn't it Michael?" Michael looks up at me and blinks. I shoot the kid a quick wink which makes him bulge his eyes and then look at his Mom for some form of clarification.
"He was visiting his Grandma."
"Me too." I tell Michael, who's reaching for me with tiny little monkey hands.
I offer him a finger and he begins squeezing the finger and smiling.
"Do you want to hold him?" She asks me and now it's my turn to bulge my eyes. You see whenever i'm asked to hold a baby all I hear is "Would you like to hold the most beautiful, wonderful and fragile gift in all the world? Don't worry but just try to remember that even the slightest miscalculation could cause harm to this little soul and in turn damn yours, and rightfully so, to a thousand hells forever!"
"I really shouldn't ma'am, i'm no good with ..." but it's too late. Mom's placed this little bundle of life straight into my arms. She proceeds to talk to me about how she can never find what she needs in her purse and the whole time the baby is looking up at me smiling, most likely laughing at my embarassment.
"So... um what's there ...?"
"His name is Michael. Just like his Daddy!"
"So ummm.. what's up Mike?"
Michael looks over at Mom as if to say 'Hey Lady-Who-Feeds-ME, who's this big ape you got holding me? Didn't you check his credentails? What if he's a maniac or somethin' huh? It's a good thing I can't fire you...'. Then I give him another wink, since he seemed to get a kick out of that and the same trick works twice as he makes an excited little gurgling noies and reaches for me again with a smile that's almost bigger than the rest of his body. I give the kid my finger to throttle and this does the trick. Finally, much to my relief, Mom takes Junior off my hands.
"Thanks, you're a natural. Do you have any children?"
"No, almost but..." I drift into an embarassed silence and thankfully she picks up on the hint to drop the subject."Well Michael seems to like you."
"He just hasn't gotten to know me yet." I say with a shrug. But Michael is looking at me with his mouth open. The plane is starting to taxi. I look over Mom's shoulder through the tiny portal window. Outside Ft. Lauderdale sits cloaked in the predawn darkness. The engine is humming louder. The cabin signs are blinking. I can see the downtown skyline swing into view. All those years soon to be nothing more than memories, all those chances I had soon to be gone forever in a few minutes. We pick up speed and the plane launches up and now I can see the streets, ports and buildings shrink in a growing sweep of vision.
"Bye-Bye Ft.Lauderdale!" Mom says to Michael. Michael looks at Mom with a 'so-what' shrug that only a five month old little boy can make look adorable.
"Bye-bye Ft.Lauderdale." I whisper under my breath. I look over at Michael and he's smiling. I return it right back at him and finally manage to lay my head back on the seat.
For the first time in my life I manage to sleep on a plane.
Dad drops me off at the Delta Gates. It's ten to five in the morning and there's already a mob scene in the airport of predawn commuters. I stand on line after the other and the whole time my skull is throbbing with insomnia and mental exhaustion. Everything around me seems to be detached and yet filled with meaning at the same time. Perhaps when I go without sleep for significant periods of time the need for my brain to dream manifests itself into my 'real' world by filtering the enviornment around me into a slightly off kilter version of itself.
Finally I take my seat. I'm in luck in that I get to sit next to a young lady with long blond hair, a bronze tan and a smile as bright as the morning to come. Of course she's married and her baby lays on her lap like a cub sleeping gently under the lioness protection. The story is that they're on their way to Oakland, California of which Atlanta is merely a lay over. I help her with her luggage, I hold the tiny milk bottle while she rummages through her purse for her childs medicine and make a little chit chat with her.
"This was Michaels first time to Ft.Lauderdale. Wasn't it Michael?" Michael looks up at me and blinks. I shoot the kid a quick wink which makes him bulge his eyes and then look at his Mom for some form of clarification.
"He was visiting his Grandma."
"Me too." I tell Michael, who's reaching for me with tiny little monkey hands.
I offer him a finger and he begins squeezing the finger and smiling.
"Do you want to hold him?" She asks me and now it's my turn to bulge my eyes. You see whenever i'm asked to hold a baby all I hear is "Would you like to hold the most beautiful, wonderful and fragile gift in all the world? Don't worry but just try to remember that even the slightest miscalculation could cause harm to this little soul and in turn damn yours, and rightfully so, to a thousand hells forever!"
"I really shouldn't ma'am, i'm no good with ..." but it's too late. Mom's placed this little bundle of life straight into my arms. She proceeds to talk to me about how she can never find what she needs in her purse and the whole time the baby is looking up at me smiling, most likely laughing at my embarassment.
"So... um what's there ...?"
"His name is Michael. Just like his Daddy!"
"So ummm.. what's up Mike?"
Michael looks over at Mom as if to say 'Hey Lady-Who-Feeds-ME, who's this big ape you got holding me? Didn't you check his credentails? What if he's a maniac or somethin' huh? It's a good thing I can't fire you...'. Then I give him another wink, since he seemed to get a kick out of that and the same trick works twice as he makes an excited little gurgling noies and reaches for me again with a smile that's almost bigger than the rest of his body. I give the kid my finger to throttle and this does the trick. Finally, much to my relief, Mom takes Junior off my hands.
"Thanks, you're a natural. Do you have any children?"
"No, almost but..." I drift into an embarassed silence and thankfully she picks up on the hint to drop the subject."Well Michael seems to like you."
"He just hasn't gotten to know me yet." I say with a shrug. But Michael is looking at me with his mouth open. The plane is starting to taxi. I look over Mom's shoulder through the tiny portal window. Outside Ft. Lauderdale sits cloaked in the predawn darkness. The engine is humming louder. The cabin signs are blinking. I can see the downtown skyline swing into view. All those years soon to be nothing more than memories, all those chances I had soon to be gone forever in a few minutes. We pick up speed and the plane launches up and now I can see the streets, ports and buildings shrink in a growing sweep of vision.
"Bye-Bye Ft.Lauderdale!" Mom says to Michael. Michael looks at Mom with a 'so-what' shrug that only a five month old little boy can make look adorable.
"Bye-bye Ft.Lauderdale." I whisper under my breath. I look over at Michael and he's smiling. I return it right back at him and finally manage to lay my head back on the seat.
For the first time in my life I manage to sleep on a plane.
