First Plane Ride

Mom and I flew to Amarillo last Wednesday to attend a funeral and decided last minute to take Jackson with us. Our plane took off at 7:30am so I knew it was going to be an early morning and was thankful it was only a day trip as that meant less baggage. Of course we were running late and pulled into the airport at 6:50am. We walked into the airport and I kid you not, there were at least 75+ people in line at security. I immediately paniced but we printed off our boarding passes and I was quickly relieved when the lady said we could go to the front of the line since we were traveling with a child. Little did I know the security line was the least of our problems.

The lady who checks off on your boarding pass and drivers license asks me for Jackson's boarding pass. Again, I panic. I have no boarding pass and at this point our plane is scheduled to leave in less than 30 minutes. She points us to the ticket counter and informs us to have his birth certificate out and ready. I have no birth certificate. At this point, I'm preparing myself to send my mom off while Jackson and I stay behind.

We approach the ticket counter and naturally, she asks for his birth certificate. She proceeds to tell me he can't fly without some sort of identification as everyone on the plane has to be accounted for. We finally convince her that I can have Chris fax a copy but she won't receive it before we need to board the plane as Chris was in the car on his way to work. Thankfully, she completely disregarded the law and gave us a boarding pass without having his birth certificate.

When you walk onto a plane holding an infant, the looks you receive are priceless. You can tell people are praying I don't sit anywhere near them. Mom and I find an empty row near the back of the plane and hope for the best. Little man was such a trooper and slept the entire ride to Amarillo! Mom's arm was numb from holding a 16 pound baby upright for over an hour but you're willing to do whatever it takes to keep them happy and quiet!

The ride home wasn't as easy but he was still quite good. This time it was my turn to hold him. Things would be so much easier if he'd be content sitting in your lap rather than held up on your shoulder but Jackson's not one to make things easy :)