Up in the Air

"Do you have my seatbelt buckle?"

I turned around to the person on the aisle seat as I was just getting adjusted to the middle seat of my flight back to SoCal, with a quizzical look that said..huh

"My seatbelt buckle.. I think you're using mine"

Damn aisle seat lady, i murmured... After years of flying one airline, I had gotten used to enjoying a certain status.. which included amongst its many benefits.. the guarantee of an exit row aisle seat! But due to a mechanical delay, I had missed my connection, and on standby beggars can't be choosers.. and so here I was.. stuck in the middle seat .. struggling with my seatbelt.

"Oh.. I'll trade you".. as I handed over my buckle to her, and then proceeded to buckle myself in.

and then I dived right into my pre-flight ritual.. sending a last minute text message to say I'd boarded.. shutting down my phone.. and picking out some reading material for the takeoff, before the laptop would come out.

"So are you visiting SoCal, or are you heading home", continued the lady.

I now looked up. Every man always hopes to sit next to a pretty young girl on a plane, since that helps mitigate the mundaneness that is flying, but in all my flights, with my luck, I'm usually stuck next to a middle aged person, not interested in chatting, or a very very large gentleman who insists on spilling over into my part of the arm rest and beyond.

But today.. after I had two mechanical delays..a missed connection and a middle seat, I find myself seated next to a fine young lady! Had my aviation luck finally turned?

"Nah, SoCal is home.. I was visiting CanuckLand for work, and now I'm headed back"

"Oh what do you do for work?"

wow, easy on the eye AND eager to converse.

"I'm an engineer.. I am THE canuck engineer!"

"wow.. sounds exciting.. and impressive".

"Its neither, really! What do you do?", continued I. I was going to be cramped up in the middle seat for a while, so might as well while it out having a fun conversation... and it seemed that this lady was intrigued by yours truly.. I mean.. very rarely.. on the right occasion.. when the stars align...and the weather is just fine...and if the light hits me just right... I can be a fun companion!

"I'm a MatchMaker!"

...strike 3...this was gonna be a drag.

"Cool." I was done with this conversation already.

"No seriously, I am. So what about you? I see you're not married"

I could predict what was coming up next. A soft sell, maybe even a hard sell.

"I could be y'know. Are you flying on business"

"haha, no.. I'm visiting my mother.. she lives in SoCal... Me and my boyfriend are visiting her for the week".

..and the shotclock expires.

"yeah, I think he's going to propose to me this weekend".

"What makes you think that? Has he given you any hints?" enquired the canuck.

"No... i just feel it y'know... "

"are you going to say Yes, or will you make him sweat?"

"aww.. he's so sweet. I'll say yes.. but i'm not worried if it doesn't happen right now.. I know it'll happen"

"neat.. so quite the romantic, I take it?" I continued.

"Oh god no! I used to be the total emotionless package... I'd date anybody.. but I would never want to be in a relationship.. "

"quite the transformation huh!"

"no really, I just found that guys would smother me.. I wanted to take things at my pace.. but they'd always want more.. or go faster than what I wanted...".

hmmm

"..i remember this guy I was dating... and suddenly I felt it was going too fast... I felt...y'know.. smothered".

well i don't missy.. i just met you!

"So what did you do?"

"I just ended it... I've always broken up with my bf's... I just ended it.. and went away.. "

"clean as a bandaid?"

"Yeah, just like that. I just shut it down.. and then started dating someone else...I wanted it my way"

interesting..

"are you glad you did that?"

"well, in the past I was always happy with that.. but this time around, I just realized it was a mistake.. "

"Mistake? how's that?"

"Well, he was really nice to me.. and was very open with his emotions... something I always found really hard to do. I was always bottled up.. I kept these shields around me.. I didn't want to be vulnerable y'know.. I wanted to my thing. be an independent woman..and I felt being emotional sort of hindered that...so I just walked away...."

"... but then I realized... the thing I liked about him was just that.. the openness of emotions.. y'know.. like he was never too cool to show his feelings.. to show he was hurt.. or upset.. He never used his manliness to act aloof... and that kinda helped me realize.. maybe it was okay for me to give into my emotions too".

"so where's the mistake in here?"... This sounded like a movie, and the lady seemed to wanna take just as long to narrate her story!~

"Well, I left him.. dated someone else.. but then I realized what I really wanted was what I had with this guy... but I just wasn't ready at that time to move at the pace he wanted to".

cool... I interjected.. not that she really needed me to say anything here.

"and after a while, we got back in touch.. and by that time I had realized I was okay with being vulnerable.. I mean I had been working on fixing the other parts of my life.. and then when it came to realizing the emotion on my personal side... the person i wanted to do that with was not with me.. .cuz of me".

"so did you ask him out again?"

"hell no.. I'm a girl! we don't do that! but I did initiate the first conversation.. y'know sent him a feeler, see how he was doing.. dating someone or not.. I mean he's such a sweetheart, he always get a lot of attention, so I had to make sure he was single, before I let him know I was.."

"Damn women and games"

"noo.. I really wasn't playing games.. I was young.. I was just 3 years out of college.. It was a different time for me...and what was weird was that most guys get intimidated by me.. maybe cuz of my sense of humor.. I dunno."

yeah, NOT your sense of humor!

".. but he was never intimidated.. and he kept pace with me.. making me laugh... and being real.."

I smiled to myself.. here was a matchmaker, ostensibly trying to size me up as a potential client.. but instead had me going all Dr. Phil on her.

"So how long did you end up getting back with that guy then?"

"are you kidding, he's sitting right there in the exit row.. we've been together over 2 years now!!"

damn guy took my exit seat!! but good for that guy..

"so are you guys pretty secure with each other?"

"oh of course.. and I'm glad I gave him that call. He asked me to move in 3 months later.. and I told him.. hey.. take it easy.. we'll get there.. lets just deal with my pace, alright "

I chuckled.. she was verbose.. but she enjoyed telling her story alright!

"...btw, he's been talking to that girl a LONG time now... does he not realize I'm here and i can see him!!!"

"lol.. i thought you guys were secure!!"

"hey a little bit of jealousy isn't a bad thing y'know"

and then almost like on cue.. the guy turns around, interrupts our conversation, and shows her a pic of something on his cellphone...and she feigns a laugh. and he goes back.

"y'know.. he did that purely because I had been talking to you all this time!"


wow, I thought... I looked up at the light above my seat... wondering how exactly it was hitting my face.

I still got it!!

-Canuck "The Aviator" Engineer