Sappy Lill' Love Story

     It’s no secret that I’m a hopeless romantic.  So when Eric insisted that we should try and meet up in the Shanghai airport after my flight arrives and just before his flight leaves from Shanghai to Beijing, (I’m sure you can imagine) I was all starry-eyed.  (Note: I haven’t seen Eric since May 8th and he’s been in China since the 14th.  Granted, this isn’t THAT long, but, c’mon, we’re in love!) 

     

     On the plane, when I tried to close my eyes to go to sleep I imagined some sappy love story where a couple, separated by thousands of miles, having not seen each other for weeks on end, are exhaustively longing for each other’s warm embrace.  (Note: intentionally exaggerated)   

     

     In my mind, I am frantically running through the terminals of the airport and after finding his terminal I see him standing outside the boarding area, just as he said he would.  Without a word, he glances up and our eyes are locked on each other with a hint of excitement.  We pause, still swallowing the reality that we actually get to hold each other for just a moment before he leaves for Beijing.   After a brief pause, we start running towards each other with open arms and dreamy-eyed smiles.  I narrowly miss a banana peel lying directly in my path (just checking to see you're reading this) and I jump into Eric's arms and he swings me around just like a kid on the tea cups in Disney world!  We give each other a long, strong hug as the flight crew whisks him away into the plane.  (I would include a passionate kiss in this scenario, but gotta be culturally respectful, even in my daydreams.)  

     Yup, I have a keen imagination for playing love story move-reels in my mind.  Ashamed as I am to admit this, I didn’t get any sleep on the 15-hour flight to Shanghai.  Now now, that’s not the only reason, I was also scheming ways to sit closer to the front of the aircraft just before we landed so that I could quickly get out of the plane.  On top of that was a dash of Patch Adams, a Thousand Splendid Suns, The Big Bang Theory, Ben and Kate, and some really bad food. 

     

     Since my plane was supposed to land at 3:15 and Eric’s flight didn’t leave until 4:00pm I was pretty optimistic that I could make this little romantic fantasy happen… the problem was some dimwit decided to not show up for his or her flight while we were in Toronto, and for safety reasons the flight crew had to track down all of this person’s luggage (FOUR suitcases, odd, right?) before we could leave.  Our departure was delayed about an hour.  Grrrr…. Don’t they know I have a sappy love story to make happen over here! 

     At this moment, I’m inflight, and with five more—wait ten more hours (UGH), I’m getting restless and hungry.  We already had one meal, but that was about four hours ago.  Happily I saw the stewardess preparing our next meals.   Much to my dismay, we were given ‘Cup o’ Noodles’ and a Turkey and mayo sandwich…. Really, Air Canada? Really?!  I wouldn’t normal subject my stomach to such a tasteless, sodium-rich meal, but a wise man (let’s just call him Doug[Symbol]) once told me to always eat the food you are given on a flight because you never know when your next meal will be.  I definitely take this advice to heart! 

     Anyway, from love to food and back to love again… like many (*ahem not most) of my stories, this too fails to reach a pinnacle moment.  My flight didn’t arrive until 4:00pm, and I soon discovered that Eric’s flight left from the other airport in Shanghai anyway. Rats!  All that scheming for nothing!  Well, it’s no scene from the Notebook, but boy was it fun to let my imagination run wild! 

Next blog… my first day in Shanghai!