Ok, so I have no pictures...again, but when we last left off, we had met Disney-Super-Mom, had breakfast at Artist's Palette, and hit the road - heading back to Sanford Airport.
It was a beautiful day. I hated to leave. As usual.
It was a quick ride to the airport....much quicker than I thought it'd be so we arrived at the airport in no time and had a while to kill before our flight. We dropped the rental car off and I left the boys outside on the patio whilst (that's for you Jo!) I returned the keys. There's a cute little patio area outside so we would hang outside there a bit before going in. And the Allegiant counter wasn't even open yet...yeah, we were early. I kept running the "coulda shoulda woulda's" through my head.
I coulda gone to MK.
I shoulda went to DTD to try and find a lunch box for Michael.
I woulda done ANYTHING if I knew I'd have 2 hours to kill...
My little man wore his pirate Mickey ears all the way...
Nope. They weren't coming off. I wondered how this would play out later when going thru Security.
After turning in the keys to my rent-a-beat, I joined the boys outside on the patio. Michael had made new friends. A nice unsuspecting couple who probably had no idea what they were getting into when they sat down.
By the time I arrived, they knew Michael's name, that we lived in North Carolina and that we were going home from Disney World.
They knew his favorite ride is BTMR.
And that Daddy has a cold.
And that SSR has a "really cool" slide at the pool.
And that he's in Kindergarten.
And his room is blue.
Yada yada yada...
The lady told me that she has a 5 year old daughter at home who's just as chatty....the man looked exhausted from just listening to Michael. The woman continued to have a conversation with him. Bless her little heart.
Finally the Allegiant counter was going to be opened so we went and got in line behind this lovely older woman. She was a little bitty thing...a good wind would blow her to Iowa. But what a sweetheart. She didn't even know what airport she was flying to.
I'm sorry - WHAT?!?!
She explained that her son is a veterinarian in Wilson, NC and his office manager quit so he needed his wife to work in his office so she was going to stay at the house with her grandchild while her son got his "stuff" straightened out.
Someone dropped her off at the airport. She assumed she was flying Allegiant. But had no ticket. She thought her son was buying one.
Another nice lady from NC got in line and we spent a while chatting with this lovely woman. She was as chatty and forthcoming as Michael. She explained she's got a house on a lake that she paid $32,000 for years and years ago and this man keeps showing up offering her money for it. He came back yesterday and offered her $400,000!

I immediately thought of Father of the Bride II...
Anyway, who ever had dropped her off, must've just done that...she had a big bag...could have fit a body in it and it weighed just as much that I went and carried up to the counter area for her. No wheels. It was an OOOOLD suitcase. And she carried one of those old train cases with her makeup, etc. in it.
The other woman (I'll call her Kinston) and I asked if she'd be checking the train case. No - it's important. My medications are in there, she said. It stays with me. Are there any liquids in it? No.
I will call the older lady Wilson. She told us that she used to be a stewardess for American Airlines, back in the day and told us of her travels. She really was a sweetie.
Kinston and I decided that since she was traveling alone, she'd check in with Wilson so she could keep an eye on her and have a seat next to her. We couldn't leave her alone. Wilson was way too fraile. And hasn't traveled in years...we wondered how'd she'd get along alone.
When time to check in came, Kinston helped Wilson check in and they went up the stairs to go thru security. We checked our bags and decided to head back outside again to get our last bit of Florida sunshine before having to go thru security.
Michael's new friends were out there. Still. The man looked frightened to see us. The woman looked delighted. I didn't know what to think of them. I felt sorry for them in a way, but it was her fault. As long as she engaged Michael in conversation, he kept talking. She brought it all on herself.
We sat outside for quite a while with them. And finally I looked up and recognized that rain was coming. It was early in the day for those Florida showers, but the sky looked the same.
I warned the boys...let's go get inside. It's gonna rain.
But mooooommmmm...it's a beautiful day.
Yeah, yeah, it is...it's going to start pouring in a few minutes Bud. Let's go inside. We'll get a snack or something.
We bid goodbye to Michael's new friends.
Good bye Michael!!
Have a good flight Michael!!
(Jeffrey, Jeffrey, Jeffrey...)
We went up to go through security. The place was DEAD. Maybe, just maybe there were a dozen passengers in the airport. I love this place.
We got to security and all the TSA people...several of them, had a ball with Michael. Really, really fun. They loved his pirate ears and let him keep them on through security and had a ball listening to him tell them about his trip.
He told them he went to Disney World. Ah, good thing. I'm sure they were wondering where in the world (no pun intended) he got those pirate ears from!
He continued to chat...whether or not they were listening.
His name is Michael.
He's five years old.
He's in Kindergarten.
He told them Daddy was sick.
He and Mommy got REAL, LIVE PIXIE DUST!!!!
And our hotel had a really cool pool slide.
He's going to go to first grade soon.
He's going to be 6 soon.
And a pirate's favorite letter is Arrrrrrrrr....
And we bid good-bye to these new friends too...
"Bye Michael! Have a good flight! We'll see you again soon!!"
Jeffrey, Jeffrey, Jeffrey....
Up next...
Lessons in Airport Streaking....
Note to self...re-enforce to Michael that he shouldn't really be so chatty with total strangers...
