I recently flew – by myself – on an airplane.
There was a time in my life where this wasn’t such a novel experience. (In fact, this one time it was a dual novel experience. Ha ha. Sorry not sorry.)
ANYWAY.
So I’ve done my fair share of flying but ever since having young kids people look at you all weird if you pretend you don’t know the toddlers at the airport and try to board without them. (I’m joking. I’ve never done this. And luckily my kids are remarkably good fliers as long as you ply them with enough snacks).
But back to this flight. Thanks very much to my generous in-laws who watched the tiny humans back at home, I got to meet my husband in Alaska for a brief kids-free (GASP) trip.
And who knew the inflight entertainment could be funny EVEN IF YOU AREN’T THE ONE WATCHING IT.
So this lady sits next to me on the flight. She seems nice enough. We don’t really talk which is fine with me; at this point I’ve been traveling most of the day and am only halfway to my destination. I’m not really in the mood to meet new friends that I’ll abandon in 3.5 hours after our forced confinement is over.
The flight gets in the air and she puts on her headphones and starts watching this movie with Melissa McCarthy that I’ve never heard of but now is on my must-watch list based on the subsequent antics of my seatmate. I took notes. Here’s your play-by-play.
The lady is watching this movie and she starts laughing. But not just a little chuckle, y’all. This lady starts belly laughing so hard she’s shaking the ENTIRE ASILE.
But – it gets better.
Now she’s CLAPPING.
Yes, when it gets REALLY SUPER FUNNY she starts CLAPPING.
To recap: this nice lady in the seat next to me is watching a movie by herself while wearing a mask, stuck in a stuffy metal cylinder hurling across the sky, and she’s laughing so hard I’m pretty sure the guy three rows up turned around and gave her A Look.
Oh wait, now she’s recommending the movie to the flight attendant.
Aaand… they’re still talking about it.
The flight attendant is pulling out her phone to take notes on the name of this movie.
The flight attendant moves on and my seat mate is still watching this movie and she’s still laughing and clapping and God Damn if I’m not secretly amused myself. And I’m not even watching the movie, because my dated iPad doesn’t have operating software to be compatible with the airline’s streaming service.
Ope, she just clapped again.
Now she’s belly-laughing some more.
I love all of this so much for her, this woman on a flight to Alaska wearing flip-flops and sipping a vodka soda with lime and getting so much joy out of her moment on the plane.
But I love it for me, too.
Don’t forget to laugh, people. It’s the best.
And Melissa McCarthy – I just thought you should know that today you brought joy into someone’s life. Also I will be watching your movie because after all this – how could I not?!
