Strangest Plane Ride Ever

I don't enjoy airplanes in general. The air is funky, the space is claustrophobia inducing, and the noise either droning or deafening. However, these are not any of the reasons my plane ride to Alaska was remarkably ridiculous.

1. I had to sit in the middle of the plane, between two strangers.. not a big deal to most.. but if you know me... you know that would freak me out. Also, if I were to describe the odor of the gentleman in front of me as pleasant..it would be the biggest lie of my life.

2. The woman squashed on my left was a narcoleptic Jehovah's Witness. No, I'm not making this up.... She opened conversation with a watchtower. It turns out she was on disability for narcolepsy, and using all her time and government cheese to travel to Jehovah Witness conference after conference.
Here's the kicker, her narcolepsy did not prevent her from driving, just from working. Yep!

3. The woman squashed on my left was slowly taking small chunks of her turkey sandwich and shoving them one at a time into her carry-on bag that was stuffed between the seats in front of her. Each subsequent stuffing was followed by a nervous and awkward laugh. Again, I am not making this up.
It wasn't until hours later at the very end of the flight I found out she had a half-drugged dog inside her carry-on....

The Brady Principle

The Brady Principle

I have a friend who appears comfortable in basically every situation known to man. I imagine him to be as comfortable in a conversation with a with a homeless man as he would be with the Queen of Scotland or perhaps with the most notorious criminal in North America. You basically can't rattle him. If that's not impressive enough..the Bradoman can wrangle his way into any venue without paying and get backstage without authorization at virtually any show. How does he do it? It's simple. He has an uncanny way of acting like he belongs and therefore.....he belongs.
Why am I telling you about Brado? I'm telling you because the Brady principle works. If you should find yourself in an uncomfortable or challenging situation, simply act like you are not uncomfortable. Act like it's natural and imagine that you belong... and you will.

Puff

Puff is the name of my fabulous, fluffy, stained, light blue, tattered and torn American Eagle coat. Yes, you read correctly, I have a name for my coat. It almost has a personality of its own. If I can't easily locate the ratty garment you may hear me yell, "Wait, where's Puff?" or "Babe, have you seen Puff around anywhere?" If the temperature dips below 50, and in Northwestern PA it usually does, you can almost guarantee that you will not see me without my trusted companion, Puff.
I purchased Puff over 6 years ago, and she is surely showing her age. Sections of stitching are unraveling, the dingy fabric is faded and stained, and multiple holes sport flying down feathers, wrangling their way to the outside world.
Because Puff has a difficult fabric for patching and sewing, I chose to repair one of the larger holes with tape. Since then, countless well-wishers have approached me and removed the tape as a "favor." And if I had a nickle for each person who said, "Do you know you have tape on your coat?" I would easily be able to purchase three more Puffs.
What can we learn from Puff? One lesson is that things and people have value far beyond how they look or how much they would sell for on E-bay. This beloved coat is far too ratty to be sold and would even be pitched out by goodwill stores. Another lesson... people don't always want your help. Each time the tape is ripped off the wound of my precious Puff, the cut becomes larger and larger. Sometimes in life what we think is "helping" is actually quite hurtful.
Because of what Puff has taught me, I am going to try to look less at appearances, and I'm going to attempt to think a little more before I speak up too quickly and try to "fix " something.
One more thing, if you see me with Puff, please don't open the wound, just walk away from the tape....