I think I published a snippet of this by accident and couldn’t edit it for some reason. Here it is after having finished it. Sorry for the confusion. I’m not always sure how to work this thing.
Here it is, finished:
“Oh, no,” I said to the woman next to me in line. We were waiting to board our plane to Denver. An airline employee had just pushed us out of the way to get to the front of the line. “That lady is holding baggage tickets.”
I watched her ticket the carry-on luggage of the people in front of us and hand it to the guys outside the plane.
“You’ve got to be kidding me,” I said. “I can’t freakin believe this.”
If you read my last blog, you will know how stressed out I was all week trying to figure out how to cram everything into my little suitcase so I could avoid the baggage claim. I had worried about it all week, checking the weather, trying on clothes, putting my cosmetics into small size containers to get through security, and then finally getting as much as I could in this tiny bag and still be able to zip it closed.
All that work, stress, and anxiety for nothing. My efforts going down the drain as I got closer to the ticketing lady. The irony of it all. Well, at this point there was nothing I could do except make it into a good story.
I started telling the women in the line around me about my wasted effort.
“I just checked my bag,” one woman said.
“You know what takes up a lot of room?” another one asked.
“My sweater took up one whole side of this little bag,” I said. That’s why I’m wearing it instead of it being in the bag. And my boots took up a lot of space, too, but I left them in.”
“Bras,” she said. “Bras. I couldn’t figure out how to make them smaller.”
We were all silent, obviously pondering her predicament.
“I just put them all inside one another. The wireless ones can be folded up.”
“Oh no,” the same woman said. “I can’t go without the wire.”
It reminded me of a joke.
“Did you know that Joan Rivers wore a 36 Long Bra?” I asked. My new line friends looked at me funny. All of a sudden they started laughing. It felt good to release the tension of my packing disorder and travel anxiety.
I got on the plane wondering why I worried so much about what and how to pack. My friend, Fran and I, joke about how we have packers disease. We bring too much stuff no matter how hard we try not to. And sometimes I think it might just be a serious affliction.
If I really think about it, what would have been so bad about just bringing a bigger suitcase? I would have paid $25.00, but I might have been more relaxed and calm all week. Is it really worth the stress? I was going to have to wait at baggage claim now anyway.
I wouldn’t have had to worry about little bottles, how much room I had, what to wear, etc.
But I wouldn’t have had quite the laughs with the ladies in line. And I wouldn’t have had this great story to tell.
I might as well just admit that I have a bad case of Packers. And next time just bring a bigger bag.
Creating Life Out Here 