Missing Luggage: The Five Lows of Flying Without Belle

As I type these words, I’m in the air somewhere over West Virginia. The sky outside the small, rectangular window to my right is blue and white. I just slowly savored a couple packets of complimentary graham crackers (thanks, JetBlue) while listening to my favorite new artist, Vance Joy.

I am, for the most part, pretty relaxed.

Exactly three months ago, I was in the air somewhere over West Virginia. I don’t remember what color the sky was. I have no idea what I ate. I wasn’t wearing noise-cancelling headphones or typing quietly on my laptop. Instead, I was handing out one Gerber puff at a time, trying to occupy Belle with yet another board book, and hoping that the stroller would still somehow be in one piece when we landed in Boston.

Relaxed? Not so much.

One of the many joys (and struggles) of having a little one is flying with a little one. In Annabelle’s first 18 months of life, she’s been on a few journeys that required airplanes. And as any parent will tell you, it’s challenging. Like maybe a 7 or 8 out of 10 on the difficulty scale. Packing is harder. Getting through security is harder. The flight is harder. Then, you have to worry about time zones and sleeping …

But as I sit here without much stress, I’m surprised to find myself genuinely missing some things about flying with Belle. More specifically, I miss five things:

1. People are much nicer when you fly with a baby. Everyone smiles, no one counts your bags, and stewardesses check in on you all the time. The world knows you’re gritting your teeth and counting the minutes until landing. 
2. Early boarding. Airplanes are crowded and never have enough room. The anxiety that comes with standing around a gate with a piece of carry-on luggage that should fit in the overhead compartment is never fun. Is that guy in Group 3? Is he already getting on? Seriously? With a baby, the red carpet of boarding rolls out. 
3. Bridget. No Belle in the air has, so far, meant no Bridget in the air. And I like hanging out with my wife. She’s pretty damn cool. 
4. Belle. This one is kind of obvious. I thought it would get easier as she started to get older, but it’s actually getting worse. Within the first 10 minutes of this morning’s flight, I was pulling out my phone to watch some recent videos of new words, big smiles, and hilarious dining moments. I won’t get a “Dadda!!!!!” hug today and that stinks. 
5. The accomplished feeling when you land. I’ll touch down in a couple hours, slowly collect my carry-on bags, and shuffle out toward the vast, fast-food-filled airport in Dallas. From there, I’ll hop in a cab and head to the hotel. Big deal. With the little one in tow, Bridget and I would share a high-five (and she hates high-fives), let out a couple big sighs, give each other that “We made it” look, and get ready to explore a new place with Belle. 

Now the task of trying to remember these five things the next time I’m handing small bits of food to a screaming toddler before the plane is even in the air? That’s probably a 9 on that difficulty scale. Maybe even 9.5.