The Return Trip

` I'm back!! And, I'm finally awake and not busy at the same time! I hope to finally regain the status of having a sleep schedule.
` I stayed up all night in order to leave for the airport at four in the morning. The 'empty' suitcase - which I had thrown my duffel bag and boots in on the way over - was now brimming full of new clothes and old artwork, among other things. Phil's spare suitcase was similarly stuffed, and it just so happens that both of them were over fifty pounds! So, when we had tried to check our baggage, both of us wound up having to pay seventy-five dollars apiece!
` Then, the art supplies I had brought over in my duffel bag raised suspicion among the carry-on inspectors. So, while I was busy getting my shoes back on, the nice security officer completely unpacked the bag before it was determined to be harmless. Unfortunately, neither I nor Phil could cram everything back inside, so he wound up having to put my red sketchbook in side of his briefcase instead.

` On the plane, I realized that we had forgotten to eat the cut-up vegetables my mom had brought with us in the car, so I was thankful that the in-flight breakfast was an apple-cinnamon muffin, which I got with orange juice and cranberry juice.
` As usual, the sunrise could be seen on the other side of the plane (where Phil was sitting) and after about two and a half hours, we arrived at the George Bush airport in Houston - a magical land where we could actually see the sun from the ground!
` I bought us a grilled veggie sandwich, and then it was off to rainy Seattle, a four hour trip that consisted of me constantly being thwarted in my attempts to catch a bit of sleep:
` First, I was sitting between these two women, unable to put my head down on my tray table because the people sitting in the row in front of me had their seats back for the entire flight. Despite the constant screaming of the baby in the seat behind me and the incessant, gurgling cough of the woman in the seat whose reclined back I was trying to cram my head underneath, I began to drift off to sleep.
` It wasn't long before I snapped back to awareness when the woman to my right informed me that I was actually invading her space because my head - having literally no room in front of me - was now resting halfway on her tray table with my face pushed between the seats in front of ours. So, we switched places and I managed to prop one arm in the window and cram my face into the space between the back of the seat ahead of me and the side of the plane.
` Unfortunately, this resulted in the guy sitting in front of me to continually adjust the back of his seat, despite the fact that I told him that his seat would not go back any farther than it was and that I couldn't sleep with him squishing me like that.
` So, I spent the rest of the flight mostly awake while being hit on the head over and over, the baby still screaming, etc., although luckily the sound of the engine vibrating through my skull blocked most of it out.

` ...Oh, also, Phil swears that Patricia Talman was sitting behind us!

` When I got home, I took a nap - as I was the only one not to get any sleep last night - while Phil and Jason determined that they were going to remain in this apartment. That's a good thing, just in case I can't find a new place to live and move my stuff out in three weeks.
` Nevertheless, it is good to be home - even if it's not home for long.