Washington State 2024 - Enroute to Seattle

 It was chaos at the airport. It looked like a mass evacuation one might see on the eve of a revolution. Remarkably everything went smoothly and we were checked in and through security with a minimum of effort and trouble. 

As the morning wore on the crowds lessened. A group of sailors, newbies, still in their Crackerjack uniforms, were seated behind us in the waiting area at the gate. I'm fairly sure I own underwear older than they. 

We were on our way to Washington state to share Thanksgiving with my brother, sister in law, niece, her husband and our new 17 month old grand nephew. It was our first opportunity to see the little guy. We were excited, which explained the bag full of gifts packed in our luggage. Uncles have the privilege of spoiling nieces and nephews, with gay uncles this privilege increases tenfold. There was also an expensive bourbon and an equally expensive bottle of wine for Thanksgiving dinner. The wine had been a gift to us several years ago, we were praying it was still good, 

A group of basketball players from Hamilton college in upstate New York, I asked, walked by. They were impossible to miss, even if thay hadn't been wearing their warm ups. I'm fairly certain I have underwear older than them as well. 

Most of my working life has been spent in retail. Because of this I have never been able to spend any part of the holidays away from home. Being semi retired, only working 2 days a week, it seemed the perfect opportunity to take the time to do so. 

When we boarded we discovered that the basketball team was on our flight. A woman in a row in front of us asked them as they came down the aisle "What do you play". They politely replied "Basketball". As I watched them, clearing the ceiling of the plane by scant millimeters, I thought,"What did you think they were, jockeys?"


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