Day 1 and Done!

First of all, it feels so good to write!  I don't make time enough to give myself the availability to spend some time writing, and sometimes I just straight up suffer from the annoying thing known as "writer's block."  It is real and sometimes it's a real pain to deal with.  In that case, I avoid writing at all costs.  However, since it's the season of summer, I find myself having slightly more time than I do in the school year.  Now, it's just a matter of prioritizing writing over other things, like, say, sleeping.  That was my battle this morning.

Second of all, tomorrow will mark the one week mark since I have been in the DC area.  Technically, I'm in Arlington staying with my boyfriend.  If you haven't been Facebook stalking me, which you should have been, then you might not know that a.) I have a boyfriend and b.) he's taken a job in Arlington for the time being.  When he was in Oregon, we knew he wouldn't be there for long.  Actually, I got to have him in Oregon for far longer than either of us thought he would be able to stay there.  He didn't think he'd be there much more than a month, but we ended up getting to spend time together for five whole months, instead.  So, there are some silver linings.  Additionally, I have been questioned about the long distance feature of this relationship.  Some who know me well will know that long distance has never bothered me per se.  The trust issues are what bother me.  However, with Tom I do not have the same clingy, trust nonsense like I have in the past. I don't need to.  His actions prove to me that there is no need for that kind of fear and distrust in our relationship.  Besides, my options were Arlington or Afghanistan.  I think I made a smart choice in saying Arlington!

So, here I am.  In Arlington.  I flew out here last Wednesday way too early in the morning.  While I was making my travel arrangements, I thought, oh sure, a 6:05 a.m. flight won't be bad!  That gets me to Arlington at 2 pm and that will be a nice little flight.  Apparently, I was either high, or sleeping, when I had these thoughts because it was not any sort of fun at 6 a.m.  I neglected to factor in that I'd have to get up before the sun in order to make this flight.  So, I awoke at 3:30 and got to the hotel shuttle by 4:15.  The shuttle was full.  And, of course, there were children.  Why are children never tired?  These kids were ready to rock and roll.  I watched their mother with an pitying look, thinking, "How do you do this?"  And, I looked at the children enviously, thinking, "Why can't I have that much energy?  I hate you."  (I didn't, and don't, really hate them, but it was hard for me to really like anything at that hour.)  Once I got to the airport, I was greeted with lines out the door at the United counter.  Fan-tastic!  Here's what I learned in that line.  6 am flights are for tour groups, the elderly, and people that do not speak English.  I didn't fit any of these demographics and was entirely frustrated by watching people fumble around trying to figure out how to check in.  Now, I'm not the greatest flyer and I really don't even like flying, but I do have some sense of how the electronic check in kiosks work.  Perhaps, it wouldn't have been so terrible if United had had more than three people were all 10 kiosks.  If you've ever flown with me, you know that my biggest fear before boarding the plane is that my bag cannot fit in the overhead compartments.  I loathe checking bags.  If I have to check my bag, then my next biggest fear of the airline losing my baggage becomes an all too real reality.  Naturally, when I get near enough to the measuring stand of the carry on bags, I find out that my bag will not fit in their oversize compartments....or so I thought.  So, I check my bag, and pay my additional $25 dollars.  Don't even get me started on that fee.  Then, I head through to security.  Security seems to be getting more and more efficient.  I had no troubles getting through, except again having to watch people fumble around with their things.  I just don't understand.  Does the thought not cross their mind..."Hey, I'm going to have to go through security today maybe I shouldn't wear my bedazzled tank top because that's going to hold things up..."  or "Hey, maybe I should have my liquids packed on the top of my bag so I don't have to empty everything out once I get to the security counter..."  It just seems to me that there is little forward thought that goes into the preparations.  Although, I'm a freak about packing for planes, so maybe I'm the abnormal one?  After that, I had to get breakfast.  If anything, food could help my predicament.   I chose a scone.  Suffice it to say, I was glad I got a bottle of water to wash that baby down!  Now, came the time to wait to board.  At this point, my hip flexors were in so much pain that I had to find a secluded spot to stretch.  I don't know what's wrong with my hip flexors, they just suck.  I am constantly stretching them because they hurt so bad.  I began getting nervous having to think of being cramped up on a plane for the next five hours.  After finding my nice secluded spot, I was soon swarmed by a family.  A mom, dad, toddler son, and infant baby.  Of course, the baby is screaming at the top of it's lungs.  The mom, you can tell, is getting very frustrated that the child will not be quiet, and consequently she starts bickering with the father.  In turn, the father is yelling at the son, who was behaving perfectly reasonably as far as I could tell.  I watched this whole scene for about five minutes until I absolutely could not tolerate it any longer.  People's bickering makes me so uncomfortable!  Again, I'm thinking to myself, "What did you think was going to happen when you tried to travel with your very young children at this hour?  Is your relationship always this hostile and confrontational?"  I could not deal with that, at all.  Finally, it was time to board.  Now, I haven't quite figured out why that process takes so long.  Once I got on the airplane, it didn't seem like people were taking excessively long to get their stuff stowed and in their seats.  Then, the most amazing, miraculous thing happened.  One seat remained available in my row of seats.  So, instead of the woman having to sit right next to me, she slid over to the window seat and I took the aisle.  We had much more space to sprawl ourselves, and our belongings.  Then, I tried to sleep.  I slept soundly until all of the babies woke up and started screaming.  I'm sure the pressure hurts their ears and they have no other way to communicate that except through crying.  I can't help but feel bad for them.  But, I couldn't help but wish I had selected perhaps...a red-eye flight.  The sleep happened intermittently for about another hour.  At that point, I checked my phone to see we were thirty minutes from 11 o'clock. I had calculated that my plane would land around 11 pacific time.  I got hopeful!  Too hopeful.  Apparently, my phone had already undergone the time change.  Realistically, I had two and a half more hours on this flight.  I wanted to read but I couldn't keep my eyes open, but I couldn't truly fall asleep either.  It was a half-sleep and that might be the worst kind of sleep.  Tom had predicted that when he picked me up that all I'd want to do is go home and sleep.  This was a slightly easy prediction to make on his part, but I could not wait to get into a bed.  He got me home around 3 and I fell quickly to sleep while he went back to work. I think I slept solidly for a few hours.  This, of course, presented problems for sleeping later that night, but I think, looking back now, I'm finally being able to sleep a little better at night.  Getting a body pillow, a good head pillow, a mattress bad and earplugs have been instrumental in accomplishing optimal sleep.

That was pretty much my whole first day!  Welcome to Arlington, me!