Somehow we got all of us and all of our luggage into the lobby and through the bag checks. I had one moment of panic when I thought we had accidentally checked the 3 year old in with the luggage, but he turned up right behind me. Sorry little guy, you didn’t need all those toes anyway right?
Since we seemed to have a good amount of time, we all piled into the McDonald's that was just outside of our boarding gate. The line was backed up to the door. There were 5 registers open but only one line. In theory this is a good idea, in practice it is something else. The manager decided it was something else. He wanted everyone to step to a separate lane but stay in order. My father in law does not hear well... either that he just doesn’t like to listen. He also is one of these people who thrive on the “Every man for himself” dictum. As the manager was asking everyone to step (in an orderly manner, please keep your spot in line) into separate lines, Grandpa grabbed me and propelled me from the back of the line all the way up to the counter, shoving me in front of people who had been clearly waiting in line for days. “Here this register is open” he said as he thrust me forward.
“May I help you?” the bored lady behind the counter asked. I was trying to wiggle my arm out of his grasp and explain to him that we should wait our turn. He announced loudly “Oh these people don’t mind, you have little kids at the table who need to eat, they understand…. besides we have to get on plane, go ahead and order.” Yes, well clearly we were the only ones with kids and who else here could possibly be waiting for a plane.
I could feel the stares of the people behind me boring through my back.
“Ma’am, can I take your order??” Her boredom was now turning to impatience.
Grandpa began ordering for himself and I just stood there like a statue.
“Go ahead and order honey,” Grandpa was smiling completely oblivious to the mounting hostilities behind us.
Suddenly a lady complaining loudly to the manager that her egg wasn’t yellow, that it was in fact white and therefore clearly not an egg, took all the attention off me and I somehow I squeaked out my order.
I found I had ordered one too many drinks, an extra sandwich and something that looked like hash browns but wasn't, but I was so glad to get away from the counter before the mob took me down that I didn’t even care.
An hour later we were settled onto the plane without further incident. The 3 teens were behind us and the grandparents and Alex were across the aisle.
At this point I must mention that I hate flying. Mostly the taking off part. As we are speeding down the runway I keep hearing all those news reports in my head: “The plane crashed just after take-off…”. I am fine once we get a safe distance into the sky, where I figure if something was going to fall off or break it would have done so by now.
After my usual take-off heart attack, I broke out the portable DVD players so Alex and Jeffrey could watch Spongebob for the next 4 hours.
Sometime mid flight, Grandpa had to use the restroom. He was seated at the window and thought it was necessary to crawl over both grandma and Alex to get out. The lady in front of them on the aisle was sound asleep and had been for at least 2 hours. As he stepped over Alex, he grabbed a hold of the back of her chair to help him balance and hauled it toward him as hard as he could. I don’t know, personally I would have asked the kid to get up, but that’s just me.
As he made the final step over Alex and straightened up, he let go of the back of the seat and launched the lady forward smack into the seat in front of her. She flew up, bleary eyed and looking for what hit her. She swung around and glared at Alex who was sitting there looking innocent. He smiled at her. She must have realized what had happened because her eyes suddenly shot to grandpa as he ambled cluelessly down the aisle.
I suddenly found the scenery out the window indescribably beautiful. So much so I had to press my face to the glass to get a better look. When I finally straightened up, the woman had settled back in her seat with her arms folded and a very cross look on her face. Jeff had his face buried in his hands, shaking his head. As Grandpa came back, Jeff reached over and hauled Alex out of his seat and told his mom to scoot over. Before his dad could question him, Jeff said “Just sit down Dad….” As his dad started to grab the seat back again to help lower himself down, Jeff grabbed his arm and helped him sit.
I don’t think the lady forgave him for sending her into orbit, but she never did say anything, although she did cast a sideways glance back at our row every now and again.
Not soon enough the Orlando skyline came into view and we were landing and on our way to Disney heaven.