Standby Vacations

Every now and then John has what’s called a long overnight. He’ll fly the last flight to some city, spend the entire next day there, and then fly out again super early the next morning. I try to go with him when I can— it’s an airline employee perk that I love because these trips feel like little weekend getaways we probably wouldn’t otherwise schedule, to places we might not otherwise plan to visit. 2021 brought us to Hartford (three times!), Jacksonville, Savannah, Greenville South Carolina, and Panama City.

Greenville, South Carolina

I love that we have favorite restaurants in cities that aren’t home. The biggest slice of cake you could imagine at the Boll Weevil in Augusta. Oooo the spaghetti carbonara at Bruno’s in Little Rock!— and zabagliones made and hand-delivered by Bruno himself when we told him John tries to get Little Rock flights just so we can go to his restaurant. Last year we discovered Sorella in Hartford, Connecticut, where I had what I think might be my favorite chocolate dessert ever: their semi-freddo. I haven’t had one anywhere else that’s as good!

Hiking at the UNF nature trails, Jacksonville

The day of a trip, I fill up cat food bowls, sequester the bird, pack light, and head to the airport where I’ll catch up with John in Atlanta. People ask me how I get a seat and if I get to reserve one. The answer is no. You’re flying standby, so you only get a seat if there any empty ones, and these are assigned in order of company seniority, so employees who’ve been with Delta the longest get first dibs. There’s a back-end system to see how many seats are available on a flight and how many folks are waiting for them; this way you can decide which flight you have the best chance on, but there’s always the possibility you could wind up in a pickle.

Connecticut river path in December, Hartford

I’ve been pretty fortunate. Sometimes I’ve made it onto a flight only because a paid passenger didn’t show up; one time I got the very last seat but then was asked to give it up for a passenger who was running down the hallway; and there’s only been one time that I was actually stranded. John was piloting a 5:30 am flight and I didn’t get a seat. I stood at the plate glass window, waving at John as the Tug pushed his plane back from the gate, then spent ALL DAY trying to get any combination of flights back home with no luck whatsoever. At 10pm I finally treated myself to a nice hotel and a good dinner and made it home the next morning.

Panama City Beach, Florida

New places are always fun to explore, and places we’ve already been feel like coming “home” but still give us new things to do. John goes for a run, we find a spot for breakfast, pack a knapsack, and walk and walk and walk. At some point we figure out where we want to go for dinner. And although getting up insanely early the next morning is no fun, it is so worth it for all these little adventures we have.

Hugging a mushroom, Panama City.

My Covid Week

When I started writing this post it was snowing. I was waiting for this! I sat at my desk watching the flakes fall outside, the sky a solid grey. Birds were at the feeder on one side, squirrel tails hung down from the other. Wind was blowing what was left of crinkled leaves still clinging to tree branches. It finally felt like winter — yay!

On that same day, though, I came down with covid symptoms, and I’ve been home since. It knocked me out with a fever and nausea the first day and a smaller fever the next day, but after that it was just a stuffy head and aching eyeballs. John and I have been quarantining— I started and am just about to finish my very first knitting project that isn’t a scarf, and we’ve been binge-watching seasons of Blue Bloods.

When I was a kid, being the kind of sick that kept me home from school meant Mom putting a sheet, pillows, and my favorite afghan on the couch in the living room so I could watch tv all day. She’d bring tea and soup and saltines, and ginger ale in the tall blue plastic glass with a bendy straw. These were the days before cable and remote controls, and while most of my favorite shows — a collection of cartoons and reruns — were on the same network, Mom was kind enough to change the channel for me if I needed to switch things up. I was a lucky kid.

While it wasn’t necessarily fun being sick, there was something I always liked about it. You didn’t have to worry about homework or studying; your only assignment was to get better. As an adult I’m not sick that often, but when I am it kind of feels like a magic reset button. It’s time off that your body forces you to take, with all your to-do lists reduced to one essential: get well. What you choose to add back in after that is up to you. A fresh start!

10 Things That Made Me Happy in 2021

I’m starting to finally look through and organize the photos I took last year. While the process always seems daunting and a little tedious, I wind up reliving my entire year and realize how lucky I am; that despite whatever grief and difficulties may have occurred, my life is filled with joy. Gratitude lists are pretty popular lately and I keep one in my journal, but at the end of a year I like making one that I think of as my happiness list. In no particular order, here goes…

1. Above: After almost two years, I was finally able to spend a week with my friend Lynn in New York. We sat in her backyard garden, did a lot of writing, and made a pilgrimage to our favorite Innisfree Gardens. I missed her so much!

2. Below: John and I made several trips to Vermont to look at land. This is one of my favorite photos from our January visit, and although this wasn’t the property we eventually made an offer on, this enchanted forest became the benchmark for everything else we looked at. If a piece of property didn’t feel magical somehow, it got crossed off the list.

3. I was finally able to travel with John on some of his trips! Panama City, Savannah, Hartford, Greenville, Jacksonville. There he is in the yellow vest, doing the pre-flight walk-around and waving at me :-)

4. Glamping in our front courtyard on the new air mattress, complete with Persian carpet.
5. Zora! Her Momma was hit by a car, and when my friend asked if we’d take one of the kittens we wrestled with an apparently popular question: how many cats is too many? We decided that three is just fine.

6. Ohhh the CAPA Summer Movie Series came back! John surprised me with tickets to five movie nights. I love the Ohio Theatre with all its red velvet. And the organ mini-concerts made me think of fun liberty routines I could perform with Pippin!

7. Speaking of which, I made some new friends and became part of a whole new world that is liberty horsemanship. Pippin loves this as it honors his free spirit — you work without bridles or halters or ropes (yes your horse can run away from you) — and I love it because it honors mine. This photo was taken at the International Liberty Horse Association show in Kentucky in October. It was so inspiring! While I went as an observer to cheer on my friends, I know that Pippin and I will compete one day!

8. Being back in the art room at the Ohio State School for the Blind. While this dragon isn’t part of the project I’m working on with the kids, it makes me happy to see it every time I walk into the classroom.

9. Pippin. He has taught me SO much and we are having insane amounts of fun.
And I end with #10, Christmas with John and the girls. It might have been my favorite one yet.