Scattering Sunlight

I tried to go to bed early, but sleep is hard to come by when you’re excited about a trip to England. I was able to finish packing and cleaning in the morning before we left our house in Idaho.

My first impressions of our airplane were; “oh it’s giant,” then “actually the why are the seats not bigger than usual?” It turned out to be okay, for sure when sitting by parents.
The flight attendants handed out these delightfully warm cloths to wash our faces and I decided there that this feels like a first class experience. I started watching To Kill a Mockingbird before Delta served us dinner. We had choices of chicken or spinach lasagna. I chose the lasagna and wow it was delicious, being the only warm meal in my day. They came through at different times with tea, sparking water, and apple juice- all of which I drank; including another cup of tea with loose leaf herbs I brought.

The movie was so good. It has been so long since reading the book, that I had successfully forgotten some of the story. I did cry at the end (and once in the beginning and middle). Mr Radley is the dearest soul.
Four or more of the flight attendants came and told me thank you for the banana bread I brought them. I was delighted that they received it well, being fresh ground flour and free of refined sugars. One lady brought me a little zipper pouch with some necessities; an eye mask, toothbrush and toothpaste, lip balm, and ear plugs. It was quite lovely to go into the lavatory to brush my teeth and get a bit of exercise. She brought me another one a bit later and said, “give this to your mom.” To which Mom told me that she’s honored to be related to me and I thought, “you’re the one raising me though.”
Sleeping on a plane is always a struggle for me; nonetheless, I tried to no avail.

The people by the window to the left of us were taking pictures of the northern lights, so I went to Grant’s window seat on the south side to see them,😂🫣unsuccessfully.
I saw the last rows of the plane were empty so I asked the flight attendants and they let me sit there. I could see the stars and dancing white and green lights on the horizon. My phone had no patience and only took green blurs. It’s beautiful to sit in awe of this big universe and the tiny humans in it.

Until I apparently elbowed the chair in front of me like very lightly (I thought it was light anyway) one too many times and he yelled loudly “Stop kicking my chair!” It genuinely scared me and I wanted to jump off the plane. I chose the less dramatic route and said sorry, covered my face with a blanket and shed a few whole tears. I wish I had some banana bread for him.

Minutes later the sun began to rise. I suppose this means a new day for me, goodbye for now.

•charlotte alayna faith•