hopefully not the last you hear from me....

"please tell me i'm going to be flying on one of the larger tin cans with wings out there," i said.

the ticketing agent looked at me as if i were insane, then said* "you are on a nine passenger plane."

sh*t

(that's not in quotes only because i barely managed to keep it in my head. it was a close call , though.)

"so, that's a "no"' huh?"

instead of answering my very important query, she responded by asking about my weight.

"well, it was 117 yesterday." 

i thought about pointing out that i'd eaten since then, but i figured it might have been balanced out at the other end during the course of the day. (my love of cheese is well-known, but i didn't have that much yesterday.)

for the first time ever, my carry ons were even weighed.**

now, don't get me wrong- i'm not normally a freaked-out flier. i love airports, from west yellowstone (my favorite little domestic airport), to kulusuk (my favorite tiny foreign airport), to bwi (long live the stained glass crab of my youth), to salt lake city (my favorite place to spend a long layover), to charlotte, my localish airport (though i cursed them this morning, when i couldn't get connected to their wireless internet to save my life.)

i also have come to enjoy flying, which is, let's face it, the most convenient way to travel between airports. 

however, when mama said a few days ago, "you know you're going to be on a tiny plane, right?", i was not filled with the warm fuzziness of happiness and contentment. 

dear reader, i'm afraid i uttered an exclamation that would require multiple asterisks to shield your delicate peepers from its vulgarity.

now, when you also take into account the very rough landing we had on the large plane coming in from charlotte***, you can probably understand why the news that i only have 9 other people with me is not comforting. in fact, i was strongly considering turning around and boarding the bus to bangor, but then i saw this:

i don't normally engage in "retail therapy", but my new swatch is pretty sweet- and waterproof to 100 feet, just in case of a water landing. 

*with more than a hint of attitude, i might add.

**a good thing this isn't a regular occurance. my heavier bag weighs 29 pounds. i'd packed light, for once.

***while i did not toss my cookies, i cannot say i had completely ruled it out, either.