THAT Baby!

I was excited when I first heard the news.  Visalus was paying for me to fly to Los Angeles, CA for the National Director experience!  As I checked the calendar, I realized it was Columbus Day weekend which meant that Milton and Maximus could join me. I instantly became nervous as I realized that it would be Maximus’ first time on a plane.  And leave it to us to make that first trip across the country to California.

As a parent, you’re always nervous that you’ll have “that baby” on a flight.  You know, the one nobody wants to sit next to? Our flight out was early on a Friday morning on Southwest.  There was a one hour flight to Chicago, then a four hour flight to LA.  And, although I was nervous.  Either my breast was Maximus’ best friend or sleep was his best friend.  He was good, I was good and Milton was good.  At the end of the flight people complimented him for being a good baby.  Life was good.

Or so we thought.  Milton had to fly back early for work, so he and Maximus flew back a day early.  Alone. Solo. By themselves. Without me.  Milton just knew that everything would be easy going again.  I said a prayer for safe and silent travel.  Um, let’s just say it was an interesting experience!

Immediately upon getting on the quiet early morning plane, Maximus took the opportunity to yell at the top of his lungs.  You know that yell when a swarm of bees are attacking you?  Yeah, that yell!  And he doesn’t stop. Nothing Milton did could calm our son down.  The flight attendant even asked the gentleman next to Milton if he wanted to change seats. Yeah, it was that bad!

Right before takeoff, the flight attendant walked up to Milton and said there were a group of ladies a few aisles ahead of him.  They wanted to know if they could take Maximus back there and they would pass him around to try to calm him down.  Milton said he thought about it for all of ten seconds and then passed our dear precious son off to the flight attendant.  He heard Maximus cry a little longer, then he calmed down and then there was silence.

After takeoff, and once the unfasten seatbelt light came on, Milton walked to the front of the plane to check on Maximus.  By this time, he was asleep.  Milton said he volunteered to take him back, but the ladies shooed him away and said they’d keep him the rest of the flight.  And they did.

Milton was extremely thankful for their helpfulness and generosity.  So often, others in that situation would have just turned up their nose.  I’m thankful that Milton got their contact information.  The women actually worked together and live in Texas.  I called them a week later, introduced myself as Maximus’ mother and shared my appreciation for their help with both my husband and my son.  We followed up by sending them a gift from Edible Arrangements. Angels come into your life at various times and Michelle, Taylor and Corrie were our angels that day.  Bless them!