I left the house with goodbye kisses from Willie and a guilt-inducing stare from the dog. Henry, after attempting without success to cajole me into giving him ideas for his English paper -- i.e. cheating -- finally stopped pouting and sent me off with a hug. At the airport, my mother asked if I had my passport, and then, seeing my face, admitted that, as a reminder, it was a bit late. Somehow we managed to get through three fights as we searched for the right parking terminal. Seriously, America, get your signage in order!
The flight itself was much more pleasurable than first impressions intimated it would be. The seat and space around the seat was ridiculously small, even for me -- and I'm only a couple of inches over five feet. I wondered if American airline companies had larger seats because sixty eight percent of Americans are overweight or obese, and if this was the first time a nation's obesity crisis had ever been invoked as a good thing.
On the plane I was seated beside a gentleman who soon proved to be my ideological near-opposite as well as a charming young man. Weird. I would never have guessed that I could so actively enjoy the company of someone who thought Obama was a terrible president, the worst since Jimmy Carter (who hates on Jimmy Carter? The man just negotiated the release of prisoners from North Korea, didn't he?). My first clue that our philosophies might diverge came when he asked me to describe the book I was reading, and I explained my Richard Dawkins obsession despite my criticisms of his near-dogmatism, and that the book I was reading was a long exposition of the evidence for evolution. When he asked me what my verdict was, I hesitantly ventured, "on evolution? um, yes, I believe in it." To be fair, I think he does too, but I didn't ask and the fact that he considered it possible I might say no tipped me off to our opposing world views. As crazy as I thought he was (he believed that income should never be taxed, only resources via VAT), I enjoyed his company completely. He was smart, funny, and honest. I may have to rethink my categorical rejection of all Republicans from my life!
I arrived in Warwick to a gray and damp day, and immediately felt at home. I'm back, baby!
But we miss you here
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