The cold weather continued when I arrived to Baltimore on Friday night. The passengers were buzzing as we unloaded about the disgusting thing that occurred on our flight. Apparently, 2 rows in front of me a young man was watching porn on his DVD and having his own party ON the PLANE! Of course everyone started looking for the camera crew from the hit TV show, Air Port on A& E. What a story that would have been!
When I arrived to the hotel I found a beautifully decorated lobby at the Radisson Plaza Lord Baltimore. It had a huge decorated Christmas tree in the middle and the whole lobby was so festive that it put everyone in a great mood. I tried to plug into the wireless internet in the room but I couldn’t get on so when I told the lady at the front desk, she allowed me to use her computer in her office. After I finished checking emails, I went up to the room and changed and decided to head to the bar for a drink before I headed to bed. The bar was completely dead so I figured I’d have a drink, chat with the bar tender and then hit the hay.
As I sat down I saw a blonde woman at the end of the bar. I said hi and we started talking. This delightful and fun lady, Lisa Marie, finally scooted over next to me so we could chat. As it turns out, she and I shared a very similar personality and it was quite fun meeting someone else who enjoyed people as much as I do. She has a little girl and was meeting a friend in Baltimore who was on his way. She was funny and fun and we talked about work, motherhood and men. Within an hour, another woman showed up at the bar. We introduced ourselves to her and the 3 of us started talking. Tazier was an incredibly bright woman who had just finished law school and was job hunting. I figured she was probably 25 years old and was shocked when she told me she was 34! She was now considering motherhood so we had a great chat about that among other things. I told her we could probably find her a job at that bar so I asked a few of the gentlemen at the bar if they were lawyers or knew any in Baltimore. I called my sister in law to see if we could hook Tazier up with her brother who is a lawyer in Maryland.
The night didn’t wind down until about 1am. It could have kept going because the people were so interesting and fun. I knew I had to get up the next morning early and get to the station so I only had 1 drink all night. I didn’t want to be tired in the morning.
My itinerary said that I was to arrive at 9am and was on the air at 9:45 in Baltimore. There wasn’t a taxi ready so I hopped in a car service and headed to the station. When I got there, the beautiful and charming guest coordinator, Carlita was waiting. She informed me that I was to be ON THE AIR in 15 minutes! They changed the time and I’d be appearing ½ hour early.
I practically ran into the studio and threw my table together with the gifts. Carlita helped me make it look presentable and right before I went on the air I told her I had gum and needed to spit it out. She actually held out her hand and let me deposit it in her hand. I was MORTIFIED but we were both running on so much adrenaline that I did it and within 1 minute was chatting on the air with Lisa, the anchor.
I told the anchor that I was wearing my niece’s scarf that she had knitted so she said, “well, let’s start with that!” So when she introduced the segment, she said, “what a beautiful scarf” and I replied that my niece, Amy from Easton had made that for me.
The segment ended and it was a success. They needed the space in another 10 minutes so I threw the gifts together in the suitcase and scooted out. While waiting for the cab, I called Debbie, my sister in law who saw the segment from Easton and she said to me when she answered, “Oh my gosh, that was incredible”. Apparently Amy, 11, was with friends and her jaw dropped when she heard me mention her on the air. Everyone was thrilled and that made me happy that I was able to do that for Amy.
I then head to the airport and got ready for the long flight to Phoenix.
I was flying South West out of BWI and there is no assigned seating. I spotted a window seat near the front and the lady on the isle greeted me with a big smile and welcomed me to sit down. Within SECONDS we were engaged in conversation and I don’t think we stopped the whole 5 hours of flight!
Meeting Dr. Judith Reisman was absolutely a highlight. She is a celebrity of sorts. She’s written several books against the McKinsey report and is an anti-porn advocate. She’s testified in front of congress and has done research for the Justice Department. Our conversation ranged from homosexuality and its development to shots that are given to infants that have been proven to develop autism in children. She educated me about the porn industry and how millions of children have been sexually abused in order to study sex. She happened to have one of her books on her as well as a book that had been writing for the Catholic Church based on her book. I bought 2 books and she threw in a CD for free. I told her that I had NEVER spent money on a plane before, but that I knew I was supposed to meet her for a reason and I was so happy she had her books with her. The young woman Natalie who was sitting in the middle seat also got an interesting education. Who would have known a flight could be so interesting!
When I arrived to Phoenix, I was feeling fatigued. My dear friend Julia picked me up and whisked me to her beautiful home. She was hosting a party at her place and she had cooked up some delicious spaghetti, salad, and garlic bread. I showered, threw some clothes in the laundry, ate a quick meal and all of us took off to the parade of lights in Phoenix.
There were thousands of people lining the streets but Julia did a great job keeping us all together. We were meeting up with some of her friends and our group was about 5 kids and 4 adults. When we were almost to the right spot, Julia told her 13 year old daughter Madison to grab a seat up front and handed her a blanket. A few minutes later we were all gathered under a tent and the parade started. All of a sudden we couldn’t find Madison! Most of the kids were seated up front along the parade route but we couldn’t find Madison and her friend Jesse. Julia literally spent the whole hour of the parade trying to locate Madison. She even ran home to get her cell phone in the event Madison was trying to call her mom to locate her.
Julia was in a panic and in tears. We tried to calm her and felt certain that Madison was probably somewhere close by watching the parade. As soon as the parade was over, Madison did show up immediately. What had happened was that she found a seat that was further away from our group but had actually followed her mom’s exact instructions and took a seat when her mom told her to sit down. We then all headed back to the house where we had something to eat and drink. I finished up my laundry and head to bed.
The next morning was the Channel 3 appearance. I was on with Tess, the darling anchor that I had been on with last April. She actually remembered me and my gifts from before so I felt quite comfortable with her. She’s a really warm individual and invited me to come back whenever I can get there.
After the segment, Julia dropped me at the airport and I jumped the plane to St. Louis. Another flight, another interesting story to come!
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