MIDWEEK MUSINGS: TSA OVErKILL

 MIDWEEK MUSINGS: A week ago today I spent a lot of time in LAX ( Los Angeles Airport) as my kids' plane departed 3 hours earlier than mine. In fact, that's how I got my subject matter for today's musing. 

You see I went to my scheduled gate and when I realized there was a flight 2 hours earlier. I asked the American service gate agent if he could check if I could get on standby, he responded  " No problem." American has changed their rules that even if you have an economy ticket, you can go standby now for no extra fees. Great! 

The only issue was I would need to change wings to get to that flight. It was a hike and the waiting area there was packed. By looking at the monitor I saw I was #6 on the standby list. I heard the gate agent repeat that the flight was overbooked. I stayed by the monitor to see if there was any movement. Only first class travelers filled some of the few open seats. 

During the hour wait, I noticed 6/7 TSA ( Transportation Security Agents) setting up 3 computers beside the boarding lines . It was announced that the passengers should have their ids ready to show the TSA agents, as they would be randomly chosen to be stopped and searched. Now, remember, they had already gone through the TSA before arriving at the gate. OVERKILL.

 I watched in curiosity as to who would be stopped before boarding. It delayed the boarding process and only people of color were pulled.  There were a lot of people holding passports as their id's. It infuriated me as it was very obvious this wasn't random. How terribly scary for these travellers!

I didn't make it on that earlier flight and upon my return to my original gate where half those agents were already setting up. To add to the hassle, there had been a plane change and it was a smaller craft minus 5 seats.  After getting in line to board, I was informed that my assigned seat didn't exist. I was told to step over to the desk and the agent asked why I didn't get on the earlier flight. I quipped " there were no seats" and I had been standby anyhow for an oversold plane. Now, I wasn't sure if I'd be getting on my original flight. Never a dull moment.

Boarding was delayed, and after everybody was on the plane , I entered as I  had the row seat almost in the bathroom. but I had a seat.  Then we proceeded to sit on the tarmac an hour due to weather in Dallas. Drats my connecting flight was barely an hour after the original takeoff time... 

The good news was twofold as I was able to watch a movie I had missed in the theaters A Complete Unknown, (Bob Dylan),a terrific diversion since my connecting flight might depart while we were en route.  We were landing in D wing and my next gate was in B wing, way on the other side of the train line. 

I did make the next flight since we had to wait for the copilot who actually  had been on my LAX flight. Too funny. Turns out, all flights were running an hour late due to bad weather. 

The last thing we all needed on our traveling day was TSA PLUS...

TUESDAY TUNES: TASTE

Temps were too hot for June although lots of rain... and that heat extended to exercise music too Here's Coco Jones' TASTE  Remember I warned you... It's hot, way too hot!

MONDAY MUSINGS::ALMOST A FOSTER FAILURE

 This Monday finds me a bit too reflective as I returned after 2 busy weeks to an empty home. You see a family who was interested in Maggie Moo, my longest rescue dog, kept her during my 2 week absence and hasn't returned her. I think Maggie has found a new home.

I am torn as this was this foster Mom's wish for Ms Maggie to have other 4 legged friends in the same house. She has more energy to release than living my quiet home lifestyle. Yet, I will miss her sweet nature greeting me upon my return, her continuous following me room to room, romps in the backyard, 

quiet moments watching TV and her lying next to the bed at night. 

Her hair will be clogging the vacuum cleaner for a while but will serve as a good reminder of a great foster experience while she regained her confidence after her previous living situations. 

I am happy for Maggie Moo but will definitely miss her. 

May Maggie thrive in her new environs...

FOTO FRIDAY: DISNEY AND ME

 

FOTO FRIDAY: Here I thought Disney went all out making sure I enjoyed my special bday year...  

It turns out we both share the same birthday year. Imagine that!

TBT: REFLECTIONS FROM TEL AVIV

TBT: It's important to hear a voice living in a present day war zone...

Read on as a family friend shares her life.

The Past Two Weeks: A Reflection from Tel Aviv

"I’ve been wanting to write something about the last couple of weeks. Not because I have some grand insight or political angle, but because everything’s still a mess in my head, and I need to try to make some sense of it.

Also, I think people outside the region, especially in the West, don’t fully grasp what’s been happening here, or how complex and surreal it feels to actually live through it.

It started about two weeks ago, technically Friday morning, around 2am. A siren went off, but it was softer than usual. It didn’t sound like an air raid siren. At the same time, my phone buzzed with a message: earthquake alert. Which was weird, because I couldn’t feel anything.

I figured maybe this was a different kind of siren, for earthquakes? But then I started texting friends, and someone said: “We just struck Iran.”

I thought, what a wild coincidence, that we hit Iran and there’s also an earthquake alert? I still wasn’t fully getting it.

Then another notification came in: we had indeed just struck Iran. Retaliation was expected. Stay close to shelter.

As it turns out, that first “earthquake” alert only went to Samsung users; it was from the Homefront Command, and maybe they didn’t have a ready-made alert for “we just hit Iran, brace yourself.” So they used the earthquake system to get our attention. Or maybe it was just a glitch. Who knows.

An hour later, another alert: retaliation was imminent.

So at 3am, we packed up, grabbed our dog, and rushed across the street to the shelter. We were tired. We didn’t know what was coming. And even though we’ve been living through a war since October 7, this was different. This wasn’t short-range rockets from Gaza. These were ballistic missiles. From Iran.

That’s a different level of threat. A different kind of fear.

---

Something I don’t think people in the West understand is that being pro-peace and being anti-war are not the same thing.

To be anti-war is a privilege. It’s not always a choice afforded to those with enemies actively trying to annihilate them.

What’s striking is how much support there has been for this operation from Israelis despite the risk, the consequences, the very real fear. And I think that speaks to something most people outside this region don’t understand: our deep historical and emotional connection with the people of Iran.

Yes, the people. Because we’re not anti-Iranian. We’re anti-regime.

That may sound contradictory from the outside. “How can you say you support Iranians while bombing Iran?” That kind of black and white thinking doesn’t hold up here.

Iranians are oppressed by the same terror we are. Their regime, the Ayatollah, kills women for showing a strand of hair. And that same regime funds Hamas, Hezbollah, the Houthis… the groups that murder, fire rockets at our homes and use civilians as shields.

Iran is the center of a terror network that stretches across the region, and targets not just us, but their own people, too. In Gaza. In Lebanon. Everywhere.

We proudly stand with the Iranian people. And many of them stand with us. It’s a bond that’s real and growing, even in the darkest times.

---

Over these two weeks, we were woken up over and over by sirens. Sometimes multiple times a night. Sometimes we spent hours in the shelter.

I don’t even think the reality has sunk in yet. The sleep deprivation, the adrenaline, the grief, it blurs everything.

But this was Iran. This was real. And they actually hit things.

A single ballistic missile can flatten an entire neighborhood.

And they did. Many times.

The closest being less than two miles north of us. Places I go all the time—gone. Rubble. Buildings destroyed. People killed. Families displaced.

And yet, I haven’t fully processed it. It feels too big, too surreal, too much to hold.

Then, just as suddenly as it began, it ended.

The tent cities in the subway stations, where families without shelters had slept, were gone overnight. Restaurants reopened like nothing had happened. Streets were full of life again. Music. People. Laughter.

It felt surreal.

But this "return to normal"... is still day 628 of war.

There are still 50 hostages being held captive in Gaza.

Nothing is really normal."

MIDWeeK MUSING: : CHERISHING LIFE

 MIDWEEK MUSINGS has me ridden with guilt as I have purposely avoided discussing world events as the last 5 days I have spent with the grands. 

While we celebrated a first birthday with family in California our country's policies invaded this space especially re: deportation here in California and horrible news of the Middle East bombings. 

Let us not forget history and what was resolved during Obama's presidency re: immigration and nuclear weapons in Iran... It's a very scary time for many ...

TUESDAY TUNES: CYCLING THRU IT'S A SMALL WORLD

TUESDAY TUNES found its way in a 38 year cycle of remembering enjoying It's a Small World with my daughter and now her 2 children.

We only had time for once in the boat ride today but the song was with me a lot longer awaiting the afternoon parade in front of this world reknown Disney ride... 

It's A Small World