Go Anyway

“Billy” is a precocious, active seven year old boy who has no concept of an inside voice or personal space. Everyone on the plane learned his name because his father called after him many times as he bounded down the aisle with no regard for those putting their bags in the overhead bins.

Despite our cultural, political, socioeconomic differences it is safe to say everyone in the plane agreed on one thing: please let the two empty seats next to me belong to someone other than Billy and his dad. 🥴

Guess who turned out to be my seat mate. Doesn’t take a rocket surgeon to figure out it was Billy.

Billy watched a cartoon on his Dad’s phone at full blast with no headphones. He belly laughed many times. Billy loved how the seat in front of him sprang back after a solid kick. When he learned the screen was touch screen he touched it with enough force to render a rhinoceros paralyzed and create shaken baby syndrome on an adult passenger. Billy demanded his water and promptly spilled in on himself, his dad and me.

We had not even pushed back from the gate yet. It was gonna be a long 9 hour flight 😩.

At every turn his dad anxiously tried to buffer Billy from impacting the rest of us. But like Jordan with the ball in the final seconds, he could not be contained.

Now mind you it was after 11pm local time before we got going. I was exhausted and really looking forward to sleeping. I considered taking a NyQuil cold tablet. I also considered breaking it open and slipping it into Billy’s apple juice. 🥴

Before dinner was over, Billy was out. Apparently the unified prayers of a plane load of people on an overnight KLM flight to Amsterdam get Sky Priority handling. 😇

Billy spent as much time in the right side of my seat as I did. More than once he leaned over onto me. When dad woke up and found him that way, he would apologize and readjust him. I told him it was fine. This happened half a dozen times over 7 hours. Every time dad would sheepishly apologize and every time I would assure him I understood and it was fine.

As the cabin lights came on and they began the breakfast service, Billy woke up. He raised his head off the pillow in his dad’s lap, threw his blanket in the floor and pulled his feet out of my lap. He sat up and asked if we were there yet. When dad said we had another hour and a half, it was apparent Billy was done with the experience of international travel.

I failed to mention the couple in front of me had a 6 month old little girl (and cat 😳). I was been playing peekaboo with her for a few minutes and getting the most adorable smiles and laughs (the baby not the cat – everybody knows cats don’t have fun).

So, I invited Billy to join me in the game of peekaboo. The precious baby absolutely loved that. Apparently 7 year olds are more engaging than 51 year olds at playing peekaboo.

Eventually Billy tired of peekaboo and the baby started rubbing her eyes. The baby went back to sleep but Billy was restless and wanted nothing to do with the movies on the screen so I pulled out my iPad and offered Despicable Me. We watched and laughed. I even shared my candy (sharing Spree for me is like sharing my Mt. Dew and I am certain it deserves another jewel in my crown 🤣 ).

So, long story short, I am basically Billy’s new best friend. We see eye to eye on a lot of things (pun intended #shortjoke).

When we landed, both Billy’s dad and the baby’s parents thanked me for distracting their restless kids. And both thanked me for my patience and grace with their children on the flight. (They don’t know me well at all if they praise me for patience and grace 🥴) Even the flight attendants thanked me and I am certain had I asked for a wings pin the captain would have given it to me 🙃.

Here’s how I responded to all of them. How cool is it that these kids get to experience the world at that age? So, even if it is challenging, go anyway. Take them anyway.

International travel on long flights can be tough. Sleep deprivation is real. Not everyone will respond in a supportive way. They may even be tempted to spike a kid’s apple juice with NyQuil 😬.

But in the grand scheme of things, all of us are fortunate to be able to fly around the world for work or vacation. Flying in a plane with WiFi and personalized entertainment screens is essentially miraculous. Missing a few hours of sleep or being mildly inconvenienced by a precocious kid is a small price to pay for any kid to have the chance to see the world.

So, go anyway. Take them anyway. Be gracious with those who are irritated. Smile and thank them for helping you show your baby the world. Offer to buy them a drink. If all else fails, maybe spike their sparkling water with NyQuil.

Either way, go anyway and show your kiddos the world.

Unless you start thinking too highly of me, I am secretly hoping there are no kiddos next to me on my upcoming flight 🥴.