The SS has landed.

Once again, we had quite a walk between gates in North Carolina. SS was secured in the Ergo and we did much better than in Phoenix. We stopped at a Starbucks to get a much needed shot of caffeine. P asked me to get us some magazines and I left him on the line with all of our stuff. A man a few people behind us said to me, "Tell me the truth, that is really his backpack." P was wearing the lady bug backpack. I responded, "My husband is bringing sexy back all on his own." The man laughed and told me that he remembered those days, and said, "but I wish I had your wit about the whole thing then." P does look unusually hot doing the Baba thing. ;)

SS fell asleep during our walk to the next gate but woke up as people began to enter the plane and make noise. Our little girl broke our hearts by wailing, "No, no, OH NO!." I felt her pain, because on the previous flight I felt like crying over my lack of sleep. I later told P that I was only able to hold it together because of SS. Had she not been there, P would have had a sobbing wife on his shoulder. We tried to lay her down between us and SS lost it. She trashed around and just let out her frustration. P held her and SS just cried for about five minutes, then fell asleep in his arms.

P and I have been very consistent (a rarity) about SS remaining buckled up in her CARES. But SS really needed us, she had really reached her limit. She had been on the go since we left our home Saturday. SS met a lot of people, and slept in a different bed each night. She has not been in a pool since last week, and has not had the opportunity to visit a playground. That is just too much for a little person (when that is their normal routine). We took turns holding SS the entire flight and it paid off. SS slept and had a death grip on us. She really needed to be held.

It did not take P long to have an interesting experience. When we took the shuttle to the car rental place, the driver asked the names under which the reservations were made and relayed them to the office. As we arrived, a man walks over to P and says, "Patrick, you must be Patrick, follow me this way." P came back to me and said, "I had to be Patrick? That was weird, being singled out." Welcome to my world P. For you it will be a nine day stint, I have the rest of my life to be different and be singled out, but not always in a positive manner.

When we were on our way out, it dawned on us that they got us out of there very quickly, yet the rest of our group were still waiting. P did not want to say it, but I made it easier for him. I explained that yes, it was because of him. It is just a built in bias in the way things are done. Take care of the American dude first, even though every other single person in our group was spending money.

We stopped at Chili's to feed SS, because the poor thing had not eaten all day. We were beyond thirsty and requested water. The waitress asked if we wanted bottled water and we said no, regular water was just fine. Another learning experience for P. Obviously this has not happened to us at home. P did tease me and said that the waitress asked me as well, so "Ha, ha K, you are white by association." So much for taking a break from our conspicuous status.

I did not realize how important visiting PR was for P. He told me that he was glad to be here, because we have finally visited each other's birth places. We went to China, SS and I have been to San Francisco (and even seen the hospital where the awesomeness that is him was born), and now P and SS get to visit my birthplace. It is something that never crossed my mind and no big deal to me. But it seems that it is important to him.