In Mich-again

Michael and I are back in Michigan for a visit. It's so good to be home. We left Mexico on Thursday - Michael will be in town for about two weeks and I will stay an extra week.

After waking up at 5 am and spending 1.5 hours on a bus, we arrived at Monterrey airport on Thursday morning. I hoisted my bag onto a table to be inspected and told them I was heading to Chicago. The woman looked at me with a smile and said (in an overly happy voice), "Oh! Chicago? Your flight has been canceled!"

I wondered why she couldn't have at least acted sad about it. Anyway, our choice was to fly out the next day (umm...no) or fly through Dallas and arrive in Chicago 3 hours later than originally scheduled. So it wasn't so bad.

We had a huge international airplane on our flight from Dallas to Chicago - which was nice because we each had our own television with a selection of TV programs and movies. I mistakenly picked the movie "Marley and Me." I had read the book and cried, but figured I'd be able to handle myself on the flight since I knew what was coming. I was wrong. My poor cocktail napkin never stood a chance. Michael - who was laughing out loud in the seat next to me as he watched "The Office" - finally looked at me in confusion and his expression asked, "What on earth is wrong with you?!" Here's how our conversation went:

HIM: "Are you crying about that movie?"

ME: "It's sad!" (sniff, sniff, wipe)

HIM: "Oh my goodness - that is ridiculous!"

ME: "Shut up!" (pause...he's still staring at me in wonder) "Shut UP! Stop looking at me!" (voice breaking... shoving his face toward the window)

HIM: "I can't believe this." (shaking his head)

ME: (wiping my eyes with what's left of my napkin)

HIM: (still staring at me) "Well, what's the movie about?"

ME: "Nothing - I can't talk about it right now. But you would probably cry, too. You would think about Belle dying."

HIM: "Oh my goodness." (still shaking his head and rolling his eyes)

Anyway, the movie continued and I tried even harder to hold it together. I'm sure people around me who were not watching the movie also thought I was going nuts. But oh well. If you've seen it - and if you've ever loved an animal - you understand. And so did the woman sitting across the aisle in the next row up. She was also watching the movie - but she was about 30 minutes behind me. I watched her itch her eye-then do a discreet wipe. Then I heard a sniff. Then I saw her quietly slide the cocktail napkin out from underneath her Diet Coke and slowly blot each eye. Then she blew her noise.

ME: "See!" (nudging him) "She's watching it, too!" (trying to prove I had every right to shed a couple tears)

HIM: "Oh my! What is that movie ABOUT?"

ME: "Nevermind."