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The Travel Story

Both of my kids are watching the same cartoon on the plane. They are sitting one seat apart. I’m sitting in the middle. They have their headphones on. Since they are watching the same thing it is extremely important for them to discuss what they are watching. BTW they made sure that they started at the same time so they could talk to each other about it. That’s investment in Micky Mouse Clubhouse. Since their headphones are on, every time they want to communicate with one another they lean in and then scream at the top of their lungs. Because…ya know…headphones. I have explained a few times about how it works. That they can use their normal voices. If only. If only we lived in a world where everything was understood after being explained JUST a few times. Every time they scream people look around to see where the sounds are coming from, so first they look at the kids then they look at me in disdain. I wonder what they are thinking I should be doing? Yelling at them to keep them quiet? Wouldn’t that make my voice louder and even more of a nuisance to people? What else? Explain to them what’s what? Already tried that. Failed. Bribe them? Every second of this trip dude! Every freakin second. What little peace you do witness, it’s because of all the bribes. The burden is heavy my friends. What’s left? Threaten them? The whales and threats back will be way more obnoxious and ridiculous than whatever you think happening right now. At least right now you get pleasant sounds, discussions about happy animals and rainbows.

So you see I’m out of options. I know we’re confined in a small space. I know you are tired and you want them to shut up. Believe

me, I understand. No one understands more than me. No one wants them to shut up more than me. Don’t get me wrong, I love their little conversations with one another but I don’t like it when people around them give them dirty looks for just talking to each other. Some people have gone as far as to “shush” them. Let me also remind everyone that this talking is not constant. They are mostly busy watching. Once every 10-15 minutes they exchange a few sentences. You would think I’m making this whole thing up because I have writer’s block and I can’t think of good ideas. That could be it, OR people have completely become insensitive. If it’s inconvenient for them then that’s it. Other people’s don’t matter much. Which one seems more realistic? …right? Pretty obvious.

To give you another example; we were on the Escalator when a lady’s bag got stuck right when she was getting off. My kids were right behind her. It wasn’t really her fault but my son could t stop in time, and bumped into her. I grabbed him but only so he wouldn’t fall face down. Wasn’t really concerned that he bumped into someone in that particular scenario. She turned around, and gave me a glare and then said, “can you control him?” all the while we are still stuck on the belt behind her. She stays there *longer* just to yell at me. The kids and I were kinda doing cardio while she was having a conversation with us because she was off the belt and we were still stuck behind her bag. No woman, I cannot control a child on a moving belt any more than I can control your tongue that’s spewing words it shouldn’t.

Why is it that our heart is only soft for those that are from within us? Because if you think about it really hard there was a time when we all came from one only one place. Just because we have spread out we think we are not from within each other. The truth is if we let one part of ourselves hurt and bleed, we can be sure that someday we will feel the pain in other parts of us that we will not be able to ignore.