Layover

I’m sitting at my departure gate in the Calgary airport waiting for the connecting flight from Regina that will take me to Kamloops, where I’m spending a few days with my daughter and granddaughter and enjoying a visit with my bestie.

I’ve positioned myself facing a window onto the tarmac. There’s no snow. It seems like a respite from mid-January Saskatchewan winter and a reminder that our bleak midwinter shall pass, eventually. I didn’t pack a coat. I’m just wearing a long-sleeved shirt under a vest. And my feet are comfortable in Birks. I didn’t bring my Blundstone boots either. I feel free.

I was lost in a book between Regina and here. The opportunity for uninterrupted reading is something I like about air travel. What I didn’t appreciate was the extra screening I had to go through when going through security. I got the deluxe treatment—the full body pat down. Once upon a time, it would have irritated me. It’s not worth the energy. I try to remind myself not to sweat the small stuff. Sometimes, I’m successful and letting things go. Today was one of those times.

I hear the chatter of business people waiting to board—robbed of their Sunday day of rest by travel. There will be more of them when I return home midweek. Every time I fly these days, I see and hear them, and silently acknowledge the sacrifice they make for the sake of their careers. I’m grateful that I’m traveling as a grandma and no longer one of them. Been there. Done that. Glad those days are over.

They just announced that my flight has been delayed. Thankfully, it’s my last one today, so no worries about a connection. I feel bad for those who will be impacted. I’ve been one of those running like a madwoman through an airport to make a connecting flight after a delay. I’m too old for that nonsense now.

I’ll wrap this up and return to my book now. (I’m reading All the Little Monsters: How I learned to Live With Anxiety by David A. Robertson. He read an excerpt from it pre-publication at the Saskatchewan Festival of Words in Moose Jaw last summer. It was released this week. I recommend it if you, or someone you love, deals with anxiety.)

Hope you’re enjoying your Sunday. I may pop back in while I’m in Kamloops. Or not.