Parting

Things went well. We found a cheap (and inexpensive) hotel. We ate and talked.  His food was excellent, mine was barely passable. We slept fairly well from 9 P.M  to 3 A.M.. We showered and packed and found that the Waffle House was full at 3:45. So we went to the airport.

A 6:30 flight? No problem. Few flights will be going. Lines will be nonexistent. Security will be depopulated. Well, no.

At the busiest airport in the world, the leading airline, Delta, had one lone person checking bags in.* After being in line for about 45 minutes, I wondered if we would make it through by 5:45. If we were not done by 5:45, they would not let him fly because they demand time for the bags to be searched and for him to be supersearched if need be.

We made it.

But we could not sit down and eat with so little time. He could not relax until he was through security on time. So I said goodbye to my nearly-twenty-year-old son at the beginning of the security queue.

He has been with us the longest. I'll miss him. Maybe I'll see him in six weeks.
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*As an economist, I should have forseen the paucity of Delta personnel.