just when you think.

there might be a glimmer of hope with society. that people might be getting friendlier and nicer and more polite to one another you go and board an airplane with small children. my thought this week was that people were getting nicer. i noticed they were holding doors open for others, saying please and thank you. i wasn't completely convinced mind you, but i say it as a positive.

and then we went and did it.

we boarded a plane with the littles. hey we paid for our tickets. we have the right to travel just as much as the next person. unfortunately the majority of the people on the plane didn't seem to agree with us. we we're ready. we had backpacks for each little. new games, new books, new colors, new treats. we thought it would be ok. we hoped it would be ok. we prayed that it would be ok. that we could just make it through 3 hours and we'd be home. the worst part of the trip over.

well. it wasn't ok. little one fussed. she kicked the seat in front of her. she whined. but she stayed in her seat and didn't scream or cry. i will at least give her that. little two on the other hand did not do so well. it didn't help that we were delayed out of reagan national. it didn't help that once we got on the plane we were stuck in a sequence delay on the ground because of weather. it didn't help that people were giving us dirty looks and sneers before we even boarded our plane. i didn't care initially. well i did, but i was more concerned with us getting home. i was offended when people were making comments - "this is going to be a long flight" "hope they're not by me" the sneers, the stares, the "why don't you do something to that child looks" (like we weren't trying). we got our seats. we settled in. the one flight attendant was beyond rude. the people behind us were making choking motions towards little two. he screamed. for 2 hours. he kicked. he fussed. he got out of his seat. he got back in. he got passed back and forth across the aisle. he got walked. taken to the bathroom. fed. watered. played with. everything we could come up.

we tried people. we did our damnedest. we were stuck in a blue and gold tube with wings at 33 thousand feet. what did you want us to do? throw him out? could you have cut us some slack? helped us out when things got thrown in the aisle? not glared at him and made him cry more? not glared at us? did you not notice when i shed some tears out of frustration? have you never flown with children? did you not care that we saw your rude motions? heard your comments at baggage claim? you know karma is a bad thing. i hope it bites you back. i hope you -pregnant glaring woman, are blessed, too with a child that screams on airplanes. i hope you, older couple making choking motions has an experience like this with your grand children. i hope you over weight man drinking vodka tonics on the plane kicking a binky up further under your seat than giving it back to us has screaming kids on all your flights.

thanks again for reaffirming to me that society isn't getting any nicer. making certain that people are not pleasant. and you know what? as i type this there is a story on good morning america about a woman being kicked off a plane with an unruly 2 year old. i'm sure she didn't get any empathy from her fellow passengers either. what about kicking off those grouchy whining, complaining adults on planes?