Wouldn't you know it? Our last night visiting Trina, Michael, Ian and Avery, Spencer didn't fall asleep until 9pm, an hour past his usual bedtime. The next morning, he awoke bright and early at 5am instead of 7am which meant I was also awake at 5am. This didn't bode well for our day of travel.
Despite our lack of sleep, we made it in one piece to the Atlanta airport graciously driven through morning rush hour traffic by Trina even though she would be returning later that day to pick up her mom. Things started to go downhill when we arrived at Atlanta Airport Security. We were directed to a special line for those passengers needing extra assistance. It just so happened that there were a stream of people in wheelchairs being escorted by airport personnel who kept moving into line directly in front of us. We finally made it through the checkpoint when a security officer looked through Spencer's backpack and confiscated a water bottle I had left in there. Oops! Then I was informed that there was a problem with my carry-on suitcase. Was I traveling alone? Yes. A female security officer took my bag and walked away, presumably to put it through the x-ray machine a second time. Meanwhile, I put the stroller back together, buckled Spencer in and put his shoes back on. I waited, and waited, and waited for my bag to emerge. Finally I thought I saw it come through. I waited patiently once again for a gentleman to gather all his things before grabbing my bag and heading to the tram that would transport us to our terminal.
Once on the flight (we had been assigned window and middle seats for once, hurray!), I opened my suitcase to discover that my portable DVD player was missing. Oh no! Momentary panic! It was not even my DVD player. It belonged to a friend. Immediately, I realized what had happened. Security must have removed the DVD player from my bag without informing me. The bag was zipped when I pulled it off the conveyor belt giving me no indication that anything had been removed although had I had more sleep and my wits about me, I might have asked why they were examining my bag a second time. If ever I needed a portable DVD player on a flight, this was the day. Spencer was so disappointed. I had promised him that we would watch a video as soon as we got on the plane. Little did I know...
Needless to say, it was not a great flight home. Spencer started melting down half way through the ride home. He was overtired, too exhausted to fall asleep. I was at my wits end, admonishing him to take a nap already. Not my finest parenting moment. The woman next to me must have thought I was a tyrant. Eventually, Spencer did close his eyes for 45 minutes or so. We made it home. I even located the DVD player by calling Lost & Found. They're shipping it back, at my expense of course. The moral of the story is keep a close eye on your possessions during security checks. I know from now on I will.
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