jackson and i spent the last 4 days in atlanta at my folk’s, enjoying the warmer weather, the extra sets of arms, and some much needed visits.

our plane ride to atlanta was terrific… the flight was only 1/2 full, so jackson and i sprawled ourselves on an entire row and slept when we weren’t playing with the plastic delta cups. friday’s flight back to annapolis, however, was an entirely different story. after experiencing yesterday’s flight home with jackson, i have concluded that we never would’ve survived the 12-14 hour flight to japan had the navy moved us there.

i knew my child was capable of screaming to the point of making me want to pass out, but there were people on the plane with us yesterday who looked at me as though they were saying, “please, just throw him off.” and quite honestly, i thought about it.

the pressure-changing-ear-issue was not his beef. jackson’s flown before and never had a problem with take off or landing, nor did he on the flight to atlanta. i think i just scheduled the return flight during a shitty time of day for him, and he was straight up worn out. jackson had himself worked into such a frenzy of exhaustion that he couldn’t calm down. i couldn’t calm him down. the sweet women (yes, plural) next to me who took him, so i could go cry in the bathroom, couldn’t calm him down.

needless to say, once we arrived in the baltimore airport and met paul, i handed him our child and told him how much i couldn’t wait to get home and have a beer.

the trip itself was fabulous! that goes without saying. the flight home aged me about 25 years though.