Beer For Breakfast

On Saturday we took Randy to the airport for his trip back to New Mexico, his flight was scheduled to take off at about 12:30 so allowing an hour for us to park and get inside, to check his bags and to get him headed to the right gate and another hour to drive the 40 minute trip allowing for traffic, Cindy figured we would leave the house at 9:30 OK I’m not a math whiz but this is a bit more than two hours and we are going to get there way too early I tell her, better safe than sorry she says and it also allows time for Cindy and Randy to hit the Jack in the Box for the tacos that they serve which they both love and I can’t even stand the smell of but that’s a whole other blog post.

We left right on time and made our way through Jack in The Box, the crunching of greasy tacos blended into the sound of traffic on the freeway as we made our way to the airport in record time, we found a parking spot right up front so the walk was short across the street to the terminals, I decided to use my cane since we would be making a short walk and for sure would not be going through security anyway, for those who have been here for a while remember Cindy’s run in with security in Why We Don’t Fly, well today would be my turn.

Walking across the street we are scanning the signs for the Airline Randy would be using and guess what? It was no where to be seen, a gentleman who works there asked if he could direct us and to make a long story short his reply to where the airline was included pointing in the distance and saying about half a mile that way in the other terminal, heck I didn’t know there was another terminal so we opted to take the shuttle rather than pay two parking fees and we were off to the correct terminal again in record time, entering the terminal there was absolutely no line and Randy’s bags were checked and gone in less than five minutes, he was directed to the security check point at the top of the stairs with the warning that it was still over two hours before his flight was leaving. Cindy asked if we could go and sit with him to wait and we were told absolutely not, we said our goodbyes and walked toward the door when the lady called us back saying that she could make an exception for us, this required our ID’s and her printing out a non passenger ticket for us to go upstairs with Randy, this I was not expecting or I would have emptied my pockets in the van but hoping that since I was not flying that my pocket contents would not be that big of an issue, Wrong!

I emptied my pockets into the required basket, removed my boots and had my cane taken away and replaced with a bright orange one until I could get through security, Randy and Cindy were already through when my #8 OT Old Timer Pocketknife and my Nail Clippers an actual give away item from the old Fuller Brush Company were tagged as Weapons Of Mass Destruction and were immediately scheduled to be disposed of, OK now this ain’t happening I told them, heck we are just seeing him off can’t you just hold them for a little bit till I can say goodbye, Nope they will have to be disposed of, I pick up my things and put them back in my pocket, I am placing my boots back on and ask for my cane to be sent back to me, Randy is holding his hands up wanting to know what is happening, I tell him I have to go back downstairs because of my knife and clippers and I would either go back to the van or wait for his Mom downstairs, he says OK and walks back to the Plexiglas divider between the secure and non secure area and gives me a hug, you would have thought we had just robbed a bank because we had made contact between the areas and Randy was immediately removed from the secure area and directed back to the line going into the secure area, he then had to be rechecked, removing his pocket contents, boots the whole nine yards along with instruction to not make contact across the divider again.

Waiting on the Plane

A security guard came to me because I was obviously going the wrong way in the line, making a stand not giving up my weapons of mass destruction to be destroyed, asking what my problem was I told her I just wanted to see my son off and needed someone to hold my pocketknife, she said if I gave it to her that I would not get it back and I needed to go back to the lady who had given me the ticket to come upstairs and have her hold it, Cindy had made her way back out by this time and down stairs we went to get the same reply from the ticket counter, next choice was to either give up my stand, leave or take the bus back to the van a half mile away and empty my pockets there and catch another back, we passed the information counter and Cindy told the lady there our predicament to which she glared at me saying, “The last time I flew out of here I was by myself and they took my knife from me, I’ll hold your knife for you” her glare showed me that her fellow workers having no compassion for her gave her the compassion to help me make a point of not giving up my possessions. She took my knife and clippers too because you know they are sharp and considered a weapon and we headed back upstairs.

By this time with all the walking we had done and me on a cane rather than my crutches my blood sugar had dropped to the point that I really needed to eat, Randy popped off that what we really needed after all of this was a beer and when my senses started coming back I was sitting at a table with Randy and Cindy eating a Schlotzskys Sandwich and drinking a draft beer that only cost me about thirty bucks the approximate cost of replacing my knife had I given it up, realistically I enjoyed the sandwich and beer with Randy a whole lot more than shopping for a replacement knife, I know beer for breakfast may not be a good thing for low blood sugar but it sure tasted good with that sandwich.

Lunch at the airport

Cindy got some time with Randy while waiting for his plane to come in and I got my so called weapons of mass destruction returned on my way out, next time we come to the airport we will know which terminal to park at and for me to have empty pockets before entering whether I am flying or not, Cindy didn’t have fifteen lighters this time nor did she make any statements about blowing up planes, it was Randy who got kicked to the back of the line for hugging me and I who made a stand on an issue that is really serious but was not one where I was hiding anything in my shoe.

Cindy with Randy right before his plane left