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Flying Rugrat Moments
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Soon after the plane left the ground, my daughter discovered that she needed to go to the bathroom. I explained to her that before we got out of our seats we had to wait until the plane finished taking off and the captain turned off the “fasten your seatbelts” sign. She was really great about it and tried hard to wait until it was okay for us to leave our seats. Finally, she turned to me and said that she could not wait any longer. The plane was well on its way; however, the seat belts sign was still lit. The flight attendants had not yet started to circulate around plane. I knew that I was headed for a Flying Rugrat moment. But what could I do? I couldn’t let her wet her clothes just because a light had not yet been turned out. After all, sometimes captains don’t turn the seatbelt lights off at all during flights! So I decided that we would make our way up the aisle to the front of the plane and go to the bathroom. We made the long walk up the aisle toward the bathroom and experienced our first Flying Rugrat moment as everyone watched us moving about the plane with the “fasten your seatbelts” sign clearly lit. Once we arrived at the door to the bathroom, I found that I could not get the door to open. The sign said that the bathroom was vacant; but the door seemed to be jammed. I tried to open it a few times with no luck. Then a flight attendant arrived and unlocked the door. She explained that they must lock the bathroom doors during takeoff to make sure that nobody is inside. My daughter and I entered the bathroom and once again all seemed well with the world. Or was it? |
Unbeknownst to me, the world outside the small bathroom had taken a turn for the worse. My handsome little 23-month-old son picked that particular moment to explode with a fit of separation anxiety. He desperately wanted his daddy back. Of course, from within the bathroom I could hear nothing of the world outside; but it must have been quite a scene.
I found out later that a wonderful flight attendant had made his way to my wife and son. He tried to help redirect my son and cheer him up. The flight attendant ended up holding my son who was crying pretty hard. Then he walked him up the aisle to the bathroom door, consoling him and telling him that his daddy would be back out soon.
As I reached for the handle, I did not know that another Flying Rugrat moment was waiting for me just on the other side of the bathroom door. I opened the door to find a male flight attendant holding my son, who was in tears. My son’s bottom lip was pushed way out, his little eyebrows were ruffled and his face was wet with tears. The flight attendant told him, “See. There he is.” My little boy looked very sad and upset.
At that, my son reached for me with both arms, gave me a huge hug around the neck and held on tight. I gave him a big hug back and then asked him if he was alright. At that point in time, I was not thinking about how visibly on display we were to everyone on the plane…and I did not know about any of the preceding events. I was just thinking about how fortunate I was to get a great big hug from my cute, sad little boy…who was so happy to see me, his daddy. I thanked the flight attendant for helping my little boy.
Then, all of the sudden, literally everyone in the section of the plane near the location of my family’s seats began to clap their hands loudly in applause! I did not know how to take it…not knowing what had transpired while I was in the bathroom with my daughter. So, I smiled and paid no attention to the clapping as I carried my son back to our seats, my daughter walking up the aisle in front of me.
My wife then told me all about how upset my son had become when he started to miss his daddy. She said that it was very cute how well the flight attendant interacted with my son and handled the situation. I asked her about the applause. She told me that the ordeal was all quite adorable and that the other passengers were simply moved by the experience. My son was a perfect angel for the rest of the flight.
I suppose that I should be glad to have supplied a little entertainment. After all, there was no movie on that flight.
©2006 Rory James. All Rights Reserved.
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