My trip got off to a harried and hurried start. Being the plugged in person that I am, I printed out my boarding pass at home thinking I would save checking-in time, but the scanner for home printed passes was out of order, so I had to get in line like everybody else. Trouble is, my plane had already boarded and I was stuck in the slow lane. Finally, I got the agent's attention, she brought me to the front of the line and sent me running for the security check while my name was being called over the intercom. I left my bag on the scale without a tag, knowing that if it got to Tampa at all it would be a miracle. I boarded about 1 minute ahead of the door being locked. Whew! that was close! Sure enough, I arrived in Tampa with no bag, BUT it came in on the next flight about 40 minutes later. Whew! that was close, too. I still am not sure how they knew who the bag belonged to or where to send it.
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Mary Ann and Cooper picked me up, Clay is having band camp this week. He's a freshman sax player in Wharton High School's marching band. When we went to pick him up tonight, we got there in time to watch some of their practice. I love watching kids work so hard to be precise in their drills. Watching Ricky march used to make me cry, not sure why, but I did, especially when he was in uniform at a parade or ballgame. It touched this mother's heart knowing all the effort it took to keep lines straight and to get into position. I used to watch Ricky's dad march, too, but that never made me cry. He's coming next week after I leave.
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I think I'm turning in early tonight. I only got about 4 hours sleep last night. I'm reading Barack Obama's Dreams of My Father, and understand much better how he came to be such a cosmopolitan character. Several people, after noticing what I was reading, asked me about him. The man seated next to me on the flight from Atlanta, said he's been a lifelong Republican, but he's voting for Obama in November. Bless him! and may his numbers increase!