Fly Day

Heard at the airport yesterday:From a man waiting in the  very long line at Security: “What in thunder kind of system is this?” From the woman beside him, dryly: "They should've put you in charge Earl."From a mother: “In general airports are pretty dirty places.” From her little girl: "But I LIKE lying on the floor!"From a lady in a spangly metallic sweatsuit:  "Frank! I NEED my blue whatsis! Frank!  Did you hear me Frank?” From Frank, in the general direction of the ceiling : “Only about 10 times."From the flight attendant as the passengers swarmed aboard stuffing their things in the  overhead compartment: "Whoa, careful there darlin'! I’ve already had one tooth knocked out on this job!"I also noticed some interesting things:

• A surprising number of people at the airport match, meaning the man and the woman often are wearing shirts of the same color.
• Their body types match often too: this very fit person seems to be coupled up with one correspondingly svelte, while the heftier souls have found each other as well. Is it because they grow hefty to keep each other company or are they eating identical diets?
• Older generations seems to feel more of a need to present a pleasant expression to the world than those younger than they are. I saw this in the 80-year-old woman who sat in the aisle seat while her 50-year-old daughter sat in the middle. The older lady had a look suggesting what I would call a perennial social readiness. It touched me to see how game she looked. Throughout the flight when anyone passed her she composed her features into an incipient smile while her daughter did nothing of the kind. She studied herself in a small mirror. shifted impatiently in her seat and gave the impression that she be gosh darned if she was going to hand out a smile to just anybody.

Small observations but they entertained me - and reminded me that there's payoff for both you AND the world when, like the flight attendant and the 80-year-old, you show it a pleasant face.