Kansas City Travelogue

I flew to Kansas City Sunday afternoon. Alone. It only took about fifteen minutes of being alone before I started wistfully looking at all of the families in the airport, wishing I had mine with me.

I sat next to a really cute kid on the plane. He was probably somewhere in the 15-17 year-old range (the range I seem to be most fascinated with these days--like the mom in John Irving's Widow for One Year) and he had scraggly blonde hair. Of course I thought of him as a Teenage Jiro. (Due to the peroxide incident, I actually think of my youngest baby as forever blonde.)

I wanted to strike up a conversation with him, but alas, I am not one of those people who can do airplane chatter. Too much pressure to talk for the entire flight, I guess. I liked observing him in silence. First he turned off his extremely fancy cell phone--one much fancier than mine--and second he turned on his ipod. He spent most of the flight staring out the window and mouthing words to songs I didn't know.

Don't worry, I wasn't staring. I came prepared with a purse full of reading material. I had a Mothering magazine and some m@b comics. I opted for the m@b comics to up my cool factor and keep my mom status on the down low. (I've had them sitting on my coffee table for months, maybe even a year, and finally got a chance to read them. They were so awesome, I wished I had brought the whole stack.) I was enjoying them so much, I wanted to pass them along to Teenage Jiro, but didn't. I mean, what would he think of some old lady giving him comics?

I had spent the majority of the flight thinking teenage Jiro was pretty cool for flying solo at his age. I wondered where he had gone all by his lonesome. Were his parents divorced? Soccer tournament? Boarding school? Once we deplaned and parted ways, I noticed Teenage Jiro at the baggage carousel with a carseat in his hand. "Is he a dad!?" I asked myself, somewhat stunned. A few minutes later, a dark-haired boy (Teenage Satchel?) near his age joined him. Then a cute mom and a two or three-year-old little girl I noticed on the flight joined them. Ah-ha! He wasn't alone after all.

I then put myself in his mom's shoes and began wondering if that baby girl was the result of a never-ending quest for a girl or a birth control snafu. I spent a few more minutes wondering if I'd wake up in my forties and long for just one more baby...or if I'd just wake up pregnant one morning with no real plan at all.

I boarded the shuttle to the downtown Hyatt, which was really quite lovely. My room had a king-sized bed with a down comforter and really schwanky furniture. I called the boys to say good night and missed them so much it hurt. Satchel sounded like a little elf on the phone and Jiro blew kisses and said "Mamamamama."

My brother's sister (don't ask) lives in KC and offered to take me out to dinner. We went to a really nice Thai restaurant and had a good chat. But the highlight of my day was going back to the hotel, crawling in my big bed, ordering a movie on pay per view, and ordering a $15 banana split from room service.

To be continued...