I flew to San Diego this weekend. Patti and William went with me. What I should say is that Patti and I went with William. William spoke at a dinner party/fund raiser for an organization that is producing a video to be usaed by the schools in California. The video will help young athletes and coaches understand the warning signs associated with heat stroke, head and neck injuries, and sudden cardiac arrest.
The organization also promotes the importance of having a trained and certified athletic trainer on staff and present at all times. The mother of a child in California who suffered a neck injury, started and runs this very worthwhile endeavor. Patti met her when she testified in Washington D.C. last spring. Many of you will recall that, while driving through southern Missouri on the way to Santa Clause, Ind., I almost died this summer from choking on a sliver of almond. The scene repeated itself in the San Diego airport while I was waiting for my departure. This time the culprit was a tiny piece of carrot. While I was never really in danger of extinction, the episode lasted long enough to get Patti’s attention and it certainly lasted more than long enough to scare me. I was only in San Diego for 22 hours, and I did not really want it to be my final resting place.
What may be of even more interest is that about 30 minutes before the choking incident, I was allowed to experience the thrill and excitement of a TSA full body scan. I had forgotten that they did these, as I had never ran into one. Basically, all I did was stand in front of this door-sized scanner and lift my arms above my head for 10 seconds. I never did figure out where the person who was reviewing the scan was located. I am not 100 percent sure he wasn’t in the scanner. While I am as modest as the next guy, it really did not seem like a big deal. When I first heard about these scanners, I envisioned a big screen somewhere in the area with a bunch of guys on a couch eating potato chips and cracking jokes. Alright, maybe I didn’t expect the potato chips, but you get the point. In the end, it was really no big deal. Someone might have made a joke as I posed for them, but what do I care if I don’t know about it and it doesn’t end up on the Internet?
As we landed in Denver, Patti was surfing Facebook and saw that Little Rock lawyer Rusty Sparks had just posted a picture of himself in a wheel chair after breaking his leg at the Denver airport a few days earlier. We thought he might be on our flight to Little Rock, and as we suspected, he was there to meet us. Getting on the plane was no small task. Those small planes with only three rows are tough enough to board even without a broken leg. Rusty handled the inconvenience with all smiles.
He even smiled when the stewardess tried to make him take his crutches back to the front of the plane when he realized they would not fit in the overhead bin. The flight to Little Rock was uneventful, and I did my best to sleep the trip away. It was a quick two-hour trip, and it went quickly. As we flew into the Little Rock area, the shadows were long and the fall colors were shining brightly. As we touched down, I caught myself wondering why I keep choking on these small pieces of food and about my first full body scan. It was a quick trip and, as always, it was good to be home. It is always good to be home. That is especially true for those of us in the CHEAP SEATS!