"Is that supposed to smoke like that?"

So five o'clock this morning rolls around, and Mom and I usher Jules to the airport. Flint Bishop, to be exact. The nicest place in Flint. Her flight leaves at 6:45, and we leave the house at 5:30. Quick stop to McDonald's for coffee and disgustingly greasy hash browns, and we're at the airport.

Check in takes a few minutes. Apparently every other idiot ready to take to the skies wants to do so before the sun is up today. A would-be bomb threat presents itself.

If Flint Bishop were any other airport, there would've been an evacuation. For a good ten minutes, a lone suitcase stood in the middle of an aisle by the check in. Nobody.. -nobody- was around it. Nobody said anything. -Until Mom turned, saw it, and said "There's a lone suitcase." We told some guy who was telling the few people at the Northwest Airlines check-in to stay in line before going to an automated check-in computer, and he went over... -picked up the suitcase-.. -CARRIED IT BEHIND THE COUNTER-.. then asked if anyone had the last name of so-and-so. DON'T WE HAVE PROTOCOL FOR SHIT LIKE THIS???

I could just see the stupid thing blowing up or some shit like that.

Turns out, thank god, that it was just some idiot's suitcase. The lady claimed it, and we went on with our lives.

Jules gets checked in, deposits her luggage, and we're off to the escalators.

The slowest damn escalators I've ever seen in my life. Ever. In. My. Life.

We get to the security check, and have to wish Jules off. She stands in line with a couple dozen other people, occassionally turning around to smile at us. Mom and I stand there like idiots, making people nervous. When she gets through the security check, we turn and leave.

We get down the escalators, and get into the van. After driving for a few minutes around the parking lot, we decide to head over by the hot dog factory where we can watch Jules' plane take off without being harassed by the airport security guard.

Lo and behold, I have my camera. Here's a good shot of her plane just before take-off.


She becomes a mere dot in the sky, and moments later, is out of sight. Mom and I go back home.. and life resumes.