March 13, 2000 - Monday
I always think there is something wonderful about leaving a place like this on a cloudy, rainy day. It makes me feel like our timing couldn't be better. We did get in a morning walk along the beach between rain showers, but mostly this was a day for packing and leaving and the rains made it that much easier.

While we were here, Harry's typically wild hair seemed to calm down considerably, almost laying flat a lot of the time. We think it was the humidity, because as soon as we were in the air on the plane, it started to creep up again. When we got off the plane in the USA for our changeover, it was standing up as before.

Our layover in Miami was an hour and 45 minute and involves going through Customs because of our reentry into the country. That seemed like no big deal, although it meant that we had to temporarily reclaim our luggage. Unfortunately, the inept luggage handlers at Miami International almost made us miss our flight by posting and announcing at least four times the incorrect luggage carousel for our arriving flight. After more than an hour of waiting and starting to worry, the people on our flight discovered that our luggage had been on a different carousel all the while and was now sitting in the middle of the luggage area unclaimed. Fortunately, customs was mercifully quick, but the area for putting our luggage back into the system was a zoo, Harry's mother lost an earring she had gotten on a previous vacation, the security people at the entrance to the gates were jerks about Harry's things, the gates at Miami are laid our in some ridiculous sort of maze and gate numbers aren't in order, and some jerk cut off Harry and his mother boarding the plane. And, in all this delay, Miami didn't seemed to have adequate changing facilities for his mother to help poor Harry with his diaper.

By the time we got on our connecting plane, I was somewhat less happy than I was back at the beach. Fortunately, having Harry along meant we were able to get on the plane before it was too crowded and I used that the extra time to bring him to the airplane bathrooms, which did thankfully have a changing table, for a fresh diaper. When I first put Harry down he was alarmed and gave me his best big red face cry. With already frazzled nerves from all the hassle, I leaned over and put my cheek to Harry's - I heard on public radio that direct contact with skin is comforting to a baby - and whispered that things were OK and that I was taking care of his problems. Really, I was on autopilot just trying to do the job before he got to distraught and worrying how he was going to last the whole flight without a meltdown.

What happen next is what you so often hear about kids putting life into the proper perspective. I don't know whether it was something I said, the tone of my voice, the cheek to cheek skin, or just random baby reactions, but as I turned to the bag for changing supplies and a fresh diaper, Harry had a mood swing. The next thing I heard was Harry brandishing his new talent and giving the world, or Miami Dade Airport, the raspberry. I could have stayed in the bathroom for the whole flight with Harry for that and been happy as a baby on the beach, except I had to get back to our seats to tell his mother what a wonderful boy we had.


Comments, opinions?