Gate C-51
Pittsburgh International Airport
I love airports. Not every aspect of them, mind you; the security checkpoint is enough to make even the most patient of men entertain thoughts of violence and bloodshed. It doesn’t help that your average TSA employee is either way past the age of retirement or seemingly fresh from the halfway house. But I digress. I love airports, and always have. There’s just something that appeals to my sense of adventure and wanderlust when I read the departure boards and the signs at the gates. I mean, hell...from where I am right now I could board flights to Chicago, Phoenix, Baltimore (yeah, right), Washington DC…and those are only the destinations I saw on the way to my gate. The potential for adventure is endless; one or two connections and I could get to pretty much any civilized point in the world.
It never pays to be early. I learned that lesson this morning. Monday mornings tend to be among the busiest times to fly, so I figured that I’d get to the airport a good two hours early, giving me plenty of time to clear security, grab breakfast, do my customary lap around the concourses, and board. However, I was able to finish getting searched in ten minutes thanks to the alternate checkpoint across the street, plus my flight was delayed a half hour. Now I’m sitting at the gate typing this crap, trying to convince myself to start reading Kerouac, and looking askance at the heavy fog that is slowly creeping this way as we speak.
Everything hit me this morning as I was crawling out of bed. I should be surprised that it took me that long to really comprehend what I’m about to do…but I’m not. Here goes. I’m about to spend the next ten months out in the Midwest and Gulf Coast with 400 people that I’ve never met, almost all of whom are years older, more experienced, and more capable than I. I will be doing various service projects that require skills that I do not possess. To do this, I have given up three semesters of college (which, by the way, I have no clue where or how to make up) as well as ten months of my life.
As they say, it’s a bit too late to back out now. Here we go.
(Oh nice, airport WiFi. Great success.)
No comments:
Post a Comment