Living the dream.

Living the dream.  A phrase I hear all the time at work.  And look at me.  Successful IT executive.  Loving wife.  Wonderful children.  Outstanding tennis player (I won a tournament in 2011!).  Talented writer.  It’s all honey and roses.  I am living the dream.

Did I mention brilliant technician?  The lady seated beside me couldn't get her headphones working, so she asked if she could use mine.  The fact I was using them seems irrelevant.  Turns out, she wanted to use the headphone socket on my arm rest, because she could not get her screen to change channels.  Go figure.  Anyway, I won’t bore you with all the details.  A couple of minutes later she acknowledged that I was right, thanked me for my assistance, and was able to watch and hear what she wanted on her screen with her headphones.

By now you will have figured out the other part of living the dream.  I travel.  ‘London, Paris, New York?’ I hear you ask.  Once upon a time, a decade ago, I visited all three locations inside of six months.  This trip?  Returning from Adelaide.  Later in the week I’m going to Sydney.  My only night in Melbourne is Wednesday to see the girls perform in their School Presentation Evening.  

The return trip to Melbourne started well.  A quick ride to the airport allowed me to catch an earlier flight, hoping to get home at a reasonable time.  But no.  Flight delayed.  So now I’ve lost my window seat near the front of the plane and my vegetarian meal, and find myself in the last row, sandwiched between two people.  Is it just this flight, or is it bumpier up the back?  My original flight is landing before me.

And the non-technical lady beside me in the window seat?  In the middle of my snack (fortunately vegetarian), she announces she needs to get up.  For a moment, I’m confused.  How can I get up with all this food and drink in front of me.  Then I scull my drink and put the empty can in the seat pocket.  The biscuits go into the rubbish bag.  Laptop goes into the bag at my feet (the same bag leaving me no foot space).  I nudge the man next to me and he goes through the same process, and then we get out.  There is no point getting comfortable in the seat again – she’ll be back soon.

Living the dream.