THE BEARDED BANDIT

we're home

our flight back was nearly event free

if you don't count getting felt up, patted down, poked, prodded, swabbed and x-rayed at security an event.
but i do
that event happened to me
uh huh.
taylor decided to grow a beard this week -


i don't know what was behind this hair brained idea but all week he kept talking about wondering if his beard would attract attention (the wrong kind) at the airport
nice
I'M THE ONE who ended up attracting attention and ended up being unduly scrutinized by security. taylor was standing next to me as we passed through security. it was obvious the bearded bandit was accompanying me. guilt by association. that's what i figure.

maybe next time we're away, i'll grow a beard and see how the rest of them fair. if i fill the rogaine rx i have in hand (to deal with my hair loss) then that is actually within the realm of possibilities. after all, it lists beard growth in women as a side effect.

no sooner were we finally through security than we saw it. a mural size picture of graham. from glasses to goatee, the resemblance was so uncanny, that we had to get our own picture.


but you would never believe what graham did in order to get that shot. there was a guy sitting in front of the mural. it was obvious he'd been hunkered down there for awhile. he was definitely settled in, working on his laptop. but he was kind of in the way. i figured if we took the picture at a creative angle, we could get a 'good enough' shot. it wouldn't have been great but i was wanting to be subtle. after all, i'd had my fill of attention already. graham, not so much. he walked over to the guy and said,
"sir, right behind you is a picture of me. and i'd like to get a photo of me in front of the picture of me."
i nearly died of embarrassment... for the second time within 15 minutes.
but
the guy was obliging and moved for us. as the guy was shifting all his stuff out of the way, graham casually mentioned that it wasn't really him in the photo. the guy looked a little perturbed after that. i snapped the photo as fast as possible and high tailed it out of there.

the rest of our journey home went without a hitch. almost. if you don't count the fact that i nearly had a heart attack upon take off. something about the sound of very loud rattling, followed by a massive bang, followed by parts of the airplane, that should not be airborne, skidding down the aisle toward you and coming to a rest under foot, leaves one slightly unnerved.


i don't care that the flight attendant said that the airborne missile was nothing of consequence. and that it was just a part from an old coffee maker. i was white knuckled the rest of the flight and wondered if i was possibly seeing my last sunset.


our friends, dick and tina, picked us up... the same friends who drove us to bellingham 6 days ago, the same friends who ended up waiting in a border lineup for an HOUR and HALF to get home, they graciously braved the border again on our behalf. we are humbled.

mercifully, there was no wait at the border.
so, we've pretty much arrived home with relatively little hoopla...minus the embarrassment of securing that mug shot of my goatee sporting husband, minus the minor indignity i suffered due to the bearded bandit and minus one so-called inconsequential airborne missile.

i'm RELIEVED to be home
and
parker and i are running IV together.


this is the first time we're running IV together, in canada, in our home, on our convalescing couch.