travelin' with the peace pipe

for starters it's not what you think.

it's been a funny week for me, this one. starting work on monday, traveling on tuesday, major traffic and car issues on wednesday...it's thursday and monday, but i wish it were friday. really, it's just too much.

tuesday i flew up to seattle for a meeting and a site visit. a super long day for a super short trip. i left for the airport very early tuesday morning since i'd never driven from the new place to the airport and i had no idea what security would be like given the current state of the world. 5AM came early on tuesday.

overall an uneventful trip (if you don't count the part where i wasn't able to check in for my flight and the fact that the site visit that i stayed in seattle an extra 5 hours for lasted only 10 minutes)the kicker for tuesday occurred at the very very end of the day. i don't know how often you travel for business, but when i come home from a business trip the only place i want to be is home.

i'm walking out of the terminal behind this cute little family - mom, dad, kid. they're all carrying bags and the kid's whining b/c he has to carry the laptop bag. he's a seven year old whining b/c he has to carry a laptop bag - i seriously wanted to trip him. they're crowding the entire walkway and the kid's messing with the automatic revolving door and i can't get past and i've already been gone hours longer than i wanted to and i seriously think something awful's going to happen and that this just might be the one time that i'm going to lose it and yell or push or something.

i finally get around the "family" and am scurrying (yes, scurrying that's what i do in the airport - it's similar to the scoot that my friend kathleen and i jokingly patented in college) and i'm heading toward the stairs mere moments from the safety of my vehicle when i'm stopped dead in my tracks by a somewhat bright and shiny object resting on the fire extinguisher by the stairs - there in all it's glory lies a glass pipe just waiting to be smoked. i stood frozen in my tracks for a good 30 seconds debating what to do and i'm not even sure what my options were, but i've been conditioned my entire life to pick up lost items and make them my own. when i was a little kid and played with dolls i would always pick up lost pacifiers and whatnot. my mom would put them through the dishwasher and once clean they would become new accessories for my dolls. i've picked up rocks that i thought were neat, pennies and nickels and dimes, oh my. i've found pieces of jewelry, i have some really cool vintage ties i found in a dumpster once that i like to wear as belts - i pick things up. so there i was trying to figure out who would have left the pipe and whether or not i should take it. not so much b/c i needed it but b/c it was there. but mostly i just wondered if the person who left it there had left it there strategically (it's a fitting place to leave your pipe - on a fire extinguisher) and if they hoped it would still be there when they got back.

i don't know the answer and i ultimately left the pipe right where i found it, but had i traveled with it my day would have been much more relaxed.

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this weekend holds book shelves and towel bars. i'm working on unpacking the last few boxes.