Five o'clock AM. Up like a shot. But other worries had taken over...

Are my bags too heavy? Too large?

I'm shocked I haven't gotten an ulcer yet.

I got to the airport without much fuss, and boarded my plane. The flight was very full, something that they kept reminding us of. I got a window seat, and was seated next to a man about my age who was going home to Chicago to visit his folks. He spent most of his time chatting up the pretty young thing next to him. I didn't mind.

It was a short, quick flight. I think they serve you pop and snacks to keep you occupied during the flight. Take off, serve pop, clean up, and prepare for landing. The landing was very interesting. I was glued to the window most of the time.

There were low clouds over Chicago, all shades of blue and white, with cornflower and indigo and sea green and blue gray. In the brilliant sunlight above the clouds, I was startled to see other planes coming and going, I had always assumed that when you saw another plane while in the air, you were about to collide. Fortunately, we did not.

Poking above the clouds was a dark, blocky object that I assumed was the Sears Tower. It looked like the conning tower of a submarine, just peeking above a rough sea.

After landing, I ran to the other side of the airport to catch my next flight. On the way I stopped at a restroom. That pop had gone right through me. While waiting at the gate, I noticed that a lot of people were giving me strange looks, but I assumed it was my Aussie bush hat that they were looking at. My flight to Winnipeg was not very full at all, so we boarded quickly and got on our way. While I was doing up my seatbelt, I noticed that my fly was wide open, and my beige undies were peeking out. Eek! No wonder people were staring at me.

Farms, farms, farms. There were no clouds this flight, and I could watch the patchwork of fields pass below us. They showed two entertaining animated flicks. One was about two chameleons who catch the same bug and get into a flight, and the other was about dinosaurs who jumped off cliffs for fun, and eventually became birds.

As soon as I heard, "We are beginning our approach to Winnipeg," my heart skipped a beat. And the clouds appeared, blanketing the city. It took forever to land, taxi to the gate, deplane, collect my luggage and get through customs. But I finally made it, and went into the lounge.

Where Dave was waiting.

I looked around the lounge and didn't see him at first, because there was a pillar blocking my view. But as soon as I locked eyes with him, everyone else disappeared. I don't even remember who went to whom, or if we met in the middle, but we were hugging, and I was whispering "I missed you" and he gently kissed me.

We recovered, and went out to his car. After dumping my things at his house, he took me down to The Forks for something to eat and to wander around a bit. He ordered chili, and the waitress brought out an assortment of hot sauces. I turned one to read the label (it was called Dave's Insanity Sauce) and got a little, tiny smear of the stuff on me. I absentmindedly stuck my finger in my mouth. FIRE! Hothothothothot!

My tongue recovered later that night.

We wandered through some stores, but the day is mostly a blur to me. I know we curled up on a couch at his place and I napped a bit, but the day is lost. All I knew was that Dave was close to me, and I could touch him and hold him and kiss him.

It was a beautiful day.