I returned before Thanksgiving from a visit to Phoenix and Vegas, and I had forgotten just how much I love it there. But what I’m really talking about when I mention a ‘renewed appreciation’ is in reference to my favorite brother’s job.
I admit there are times when I’m sitting here behind a computer looking outside on a cold, rainy Indiana day (such as today!) while he’s traveling to Australia, Slovakia, Sweden, etc. etc. I think it would be awesome to travel to those places instead of doing what I do. What I forget is that it’s work. It’s hard work.
I packed for the trip and tried to be conservative. I figure I did ok with one medium-sized suitcase and a carry-on. What I didn’t want to bag-check consisted of my laptop, my camera, and my Kindle. I put those items in my briefcase (which is totally awesome but heavy when empty) and of course, I also had a purse. If I traveled more frequently, I would buy a smaller case with wheels and ditch the briefcase. It was heavy, but not a total disaster when I boarded in Louisville — but when the airport train was down for maintenance and my connecting flight in Atlanta was at LEAST 10 miles away and time was way too short, I thought I would die. Or throw my belongings in a trash can. Or fake a heart attack and beg for a ride on one of those golf carts.
Once in Phoenix, I would’ve had to get a car if not for the fact Scott picked me up. (And carried my luggage I might add!) The flight home? More of the same. Return the rental car and lug all my stuff to the bus and board it. Get stuff off of bus, pull my belongings to check my bag. Lug my purse and 500 pound carry-on through the airport to security. Take the laptop out of the carry-on, my shoes, jacket and belt off, and still alert through the x-ray machine because I was wearing jeans with sparkly crap on the pockets (the security chick delicately stated she needed to pat my buttocks). Get re-dressed, repack my laptop and lug my 2 items back down to the gate to find my flight had been delayed an hour. By the time I got home, I was worn out. Thankfully, I had someone there to pick me up. Traveling alone? Not fun. At all.
Yes, even if security chicks pat his buttocks too.
I packed my good camera with plans to take some shots of Scott for web and general business marketing. Gambling sort of got in the way of that, but we still managed to carve out some time so I wouldn’t feel I packed that heavy thing around for nothing. This is one of my favorite candid shots of my extremely hard-working favorite brother on the planet…
