observations.

State hopping makes for some pretty stellar people watching via airport layovers. Currently in transit to Portland, Oregon where I will meet up with two marathon cronies I recruited years ago. Well they’re more partial toward the shorter version, the half marathon. Once united we will head on up to Northern Idaho…final destination, the resort style city of Coeur d’ Alene.

But for now, I sit on the floor tucked up against the wall, somewhere between a restroom and a trash can, charging my phone and computer in the only lonely outlet I can find. Airports these days are quite comical. People set up shop on the floor in any open cranny available, any means of juicing up their personal networking devices (me being one of those laughable people). Heaven forbid we lose power for the flight we can’t use them on anyway.

In waiting for my delayed flight out of Santa Barbara, I couldn’t help but be drawn to this couple sitting across from me. Very good looking. Him, tall and dapper. Her, petite and exotic with her jet black hair and nose ring. When I first came upon them she was sitting against the wall charging her devices, as per usual; and he was sitting across from me by himself. I eyed him for a moment, as he was tall and dapper, of course he caught my attention. Then he went over to sit with her and I realized they were an item (damn). Her body language spoke otherwise. Her crossed arms, pursed lips, and reluctance to take her headphones out spoke volumes about how little she cared for the hottie sitting next to her (at least at that particular moment). They spoke in hushed tones and were clearly in some sort of argument. She was pissed. Supa dupa pissed. Who knows why. My eavesdropping skills could use some work. But despite their 20 minute long convo and his gentle demeanor, her arms never came uncrossed and she didn’t sit next to him on our flight to San Francisco. In fact the seat next to him stayed empty. Our Twinkie sized airplane felt like an icebox with all that negative energy. I was just as uncomfortable as our slightly awkward male flight attendant with the muffin top who tried to engage the couple in a conversation. She shut him down entirely by saying she was tired and proceeded to shut her eyes while he was still talking to her. His expression was priceless.

I just don’t understand how some women can be such total bitches. I mean, who really knows what happened between those two, but for whatever reason she was not letting him off easy (nor the rest of us caught up in her cloud of angst). And they were on their way to a wedding. The weekend is just not getting off to a good start for those two. Her anger was so fierce it filled up the cabin airspace. I seriously felt afraid to move in the seat behind her for fear the dragon would unleash her fiery breath upon me.

Which brings me to an earlier portion of my day. The after school homework help portion where I hang out with five and six-year-olds for three hours. The past couple weeks have been wearing on me emotionally. My kids have become this cesspool of greedy little hatemongers who can’t seem to share a friendly word for the life of them. Words like share and friend have left their vocabulary. They’ve started ripping things out of each others’ hands, pushing, kicking, scratching even, their tone of voice collectively has become this over-bearing sassiness with hints of bossy and just plain jerk. I got emotional in our conversation on the carpet this afternoon; talking about how their attitudes toward one another affect me in a negative way. They could hear it in my voice (the near tears-ness); their solemnity was a little over-whelming. I’ve set up a zero tolerance policy with them in which any sort of tattle involving unkindness toward another warrants an immediate note home. Boom. Sorry I’m not sorry little ones. Be nice or your parents will know.