Entering Philadelphia International Airport several days before Thanksgiving for an early flight, my husband and I were gobsmacked to see the check-in area virtually empty. As I followed Mister Rain to the Alaska Airlines self-service bag-check kiosk, a piercing bright light shined in my eyes. You have to know that if I can see it, it is bright.
As I kept moving, the light was gone as soon as it had come, and I made the connection that it was a camera person; the local news must be covering what was sure to be a busy time for air travel, right before the holiday.
Completing the handoff of our less-than-50-lb luggage (click here for The Weight Of Our Marital Baggage), we walked the few steps to the elevator. While we waited our turn behind others in line for the lift, Mister Rain and I discussed the lack of passengers at the airport. We did not see the approach of a woman until she was standing in front of us. Introducing herself as a reporter for a local TV news station, she asked if she could interview us on camera. It was then that I saw the outline of a man with a large camera resting on his right shoulder. Since we had to wait for our turn for the elevator, we said sure.
The bright light returned, this time solely focused on my husband and me as the reporter asked us where we were headed, how the drive to the airport had been, were we surprised by the lack of people, what were we expecting to find when we landed out west?
Once all questions had been asked and answered, the reporter entered our names, as well as where we live, into her phone. “When will this air?,” Mister Rain questioned.
“In 20 minutes,” the reporter replied, thanking us for our time.
Once the elevator deposited us on the terminal level, my husband went on the Xfinity app on his phone to record the upcoming news broadcast.
Fast forward eleven hours, when I receive a text from a friend telling me she just saw us on the evening news. She said she would pause her TV and take some photos of us on her screen. I had finished unpacking while Mister Rain went grocery shopping, so I decided to call her. When she picked up she was laughing and so was I. We chatted for awhile, long enough that we were still on the phone when my husband came back with provisions for the week. I told him who I was talking to and why, when my friend exclaimed, “Sister Rain! It wasn’t the local news that I just saw you on, it was the national news!”
“What?!?!?!,” I blurted out.
“You were on the national news,” she repeated. The national news must have reached out to its local affiliates for first-person accounts from airports across the country.
We spoke a little longer, then I helped Mister Rain put the groceries away, all the while both of us chuckling about our newfound fame.
You know it’s going to be a great trip when the adventure begins before the airplane’s wheels even touchdown at your destination. Of course, things also have nowhere to go but downhill, so you have to be careful. You don’t want to end up on the news.
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