Seattle Weekend (Day 1)

After all these years of traveling, one would think that I could be a little more well-adjusted when I fly. But I'm not. I remain a grumpy, irritable, fractious flyer. In fact I think I'm getting worse as I get older... no, I take that back, I was much worse when I used to smoke. I was an outright hostile flyer in those days, the same general peevishness mixed with nicotine deprivation was a potent combination.
At any rate, here I am, at Sea/Tac airport in Seattle, gnashing my teeth at everyone that I'm trapped in line behind, or have even a glancing contact with. My expectation of how much control people should have over their children has gone well past reasonable (unless one considers straight jackets and muzzles reasonable parenting devices). Added to my overall ill tempered flying mood is the fact that I'm exhausted from flying a red-eye. I left Anchorage at 1 am and couldn't sleep for anything on the flight, and landed at 4:45 am feeling like I lost a fist-fight.
And yet, as I sit down at Starbucks in Seattle for a coffee while I wait for my sister to pick me up I can feel the cloud starting to lift. I'm waking back up, the flight is over, and I've got a great week-end trip in front of me. I get to see some old friends, and my sister and brother in law and their little girl who is fantastic. And besides all of that, I had just needed to get out and stretch my legs a little. I have spent most of the summer around the Anchorage area, and the need to get out of town for a while was starting to weigh upon me. It feels good to get here and for another adventure to begin.