The friends you make on planes

With my proximity to the eastern seabord from the location in Maine, it's just so easy to jump a plane for $150 after tax and go somewhere for a weekend. So here I am in Baltimore, and I was stoked that for once, 1) I could fly direct and not change at LaGuardia or Philly   2) I arrived BEFORE 11:30pm at night, typically when we flew from CA -- we never arrived before 7:30pm.

Anyway. So, my father is the type of person that just ... talks to people. Usually when we're in line at for a ride at a theme park, he just strikes up conversation with the people in front of us or around us. I swear I get this little tick from him. So the lady sitting next to me is older, my guess in her 50s, and his pouring over this book on Contemporary American Poets and going after some of the text with pencil and highlighter. So I ask her if she's a professor or a student, and wouldn't you know it: it's neither. Of all the questions I didn't ask: was her name.

But, I did learn:
- she and her husband lived all over the U.S., notably in the DC area, northern VA, parts of Maryland and now Belfast Maine
- she is a poet, not a professor, though was honored I thought she might be
- was an English major at George Washington University
- LOVES animals. Like ... more than I do.
- Is absolutely horrified that cats eat birds and their owners don't really mind and shrug it off as no big deal (I didn't tell her that I don't flinch if Athena presents me with a mole)
- She prefers copy-editing as opposed to proofreading (and yes, there is a difference. Copy-editing means you look at the whole picture, you're not just editing text. You're noticing discrepancies in spacing in the margins, that something with an ad on the page isn't right ...etc)
- Loves parakeets and birds. So much that she volunteers for an avian rescue
- Her husband edits biblical texts (I tried my damndest not to flinch ... I think it's been decided that I'm a full blown atheist and that I really don't think one idea is right. I believe that people have beliefs)
- She and her husband were in town for a summer wedding in Sikesville, MD

And also, simultaneously: recommended this place called Libberatore's for Italian. When Aunt charlene and Pop Pop picked me up? We drove by it and I piped up, "Hey! The lady on the plane suggested this place, any chance we can go?"

And they said sure. And there was Aunt Roseanne and Uncle Ed waiting for us. ;)
We had a great time at dinner ... and sat there for 2 hours. I felt a LITTLE bad for the waitress for taking up a table for 2 hours, but then I overheard the total on the check and what they planned to leave her for a tip and I changed my tune a little bit. But on the flip side, I'm very ready for a new leaf in life. (Counting on all my lucky stars that this gig in Marblebead, MA works out wonderfully -- I need to work wholesale and not retail.)

Bridal shower today, and frankly, I won't be disappointd if it's just me and my aunts and some crab cakes and sangria. I sing when there's booze involved and I don't have to drive. Drew knows this. He loves me cheap-ness.