Saturday, January 10, 2009

Click


I officially call the first week of 2009 a success! Lord knows just that fact that we got through it with everyone more or less OK is success enough in and of itself.

Work this week was a whirlwind. I have a new employee and there was lots to do to get him set up and ready to roll this week. I had organized all the external files but this week I focused on getting the internal files set and a system organized so we can easily add people and expand in a way that is logical. Seems like a no brainer but I have discovered that most people do not really use much logic in the things they do. I don't get that -at all- and am not a fan sooooo now that I am boss it will be done "this" way mostly because it makes the best sense to do so but if that doesn't work for ya how about a bowl of "because I said so!"

Part of the chaos of this week was that I flew to San Diego on Tuesday for the day. It is about a 50 min flight from Phoenix so it can easily be done in a day. We flew out at 7:30 am and came back at 4pm.

I was very curious about this flight and I won't say I was dreading it but I did have some butterflies about it. Not because of flying, I love to travel and love to fly. I will do it any chance I get. What made this flight interesting was the seat belt factor.

(long deeeeeeep sigh)

Ok, time for another Confessions from a Fat Girl. I have been in the bucket of needing to use an extended seat belt for a long time now. You know ones they use to show you how to buckle your seat belt? (which I still say if you can't figure that part out get off the damn plane) Well they are also available for the people for whom the clicking part just ain't gonna happen without a bridge built between tab A and slot B. For the longest time after I was too big to not be able to click the belt I hid it. Coat in my lap, tuck the ends under my fat roll (sad but true) so it looked like it was fastened but wasn't. I did that until I hit a flight with some turbulence and was bounced around so much I no longer thought it was a good idea to fake it. Sometimes there are rules for a reason.
I remember seeing a woman on a flight I was on ask for an extended belt and that's what made it ok for me to ask. Guess I just needed to know I wasn't they only one.

Then there was the time I was forced to buy another seat on the plane.

Of all things it just HAD to be at a time when I was with 30 of my coworkers. We had just spent the weekend at a Leadership Retreat outside of Vegas (LB2) and the whole weekend was uplifting and empowering and I was feeling like I could do anything!

I was first in line at the Southwest Gate and apparently gave them way to much time to check me out and decide that I was too big for just one seat. They pulled me out of line as the plane was boarding and explained I needed to buy another ticket.

I was horrified. Beyond humiliated. Mortified. And I had all my coworkers as witnesses. Great, fucking great.

Thank god I did have enough room on my credit card to charge the ticket and there process is that you get a refund after the flight, or maybe that was just because I threw such a fit. Either way I had to put a card in the seat next to me on the plane explaining that it was reserved for the safety and comfort of all passengers. Like my fat ass was a menace to everyone on the plane.

They sat me way away from my coworkers which at that point was fine because I was so humiliated. To every one's credit the whole incident was never mentioned again. Except in my head every time I have flown since then.

The last time I flew I was down 50 lbs and still needed the extended belt soooooo I was very very curious what this flight would bring. I got on the plane, Southwest again, and sat in a window seat. I layed out the belt.... slung it across my lap....brought the tab end closer to the slot and and.......click!

For the first time in years it clicked! As awful and embarrassing an admission this is, and it is and I nearly did not even post this- trust me- it is part of this journey I am on and was another milestone for me. A awful, embarrassing, humiliating milestone but a milestone nonetheless.

Click.....I am now free to move about the country!

1 comment:

Stuart said...

Trac, I am so proud of you for all your success.