Here We Come A-Wassailing.

December 29th, 2010

It’s a quiet night for the Winter of 2010, which means, it's not snowing. The terminal ramp is jam packed with planes tonight--more aftermath from the Nor'easter/Blizzard from three days ago--but at BTV, the weather is refreshingly mellow, with a gentle layer of clouds covering the skies about six miles up. The temperature is a balmy 22 degrees Fahrenheit, a direct result of the cloud cover. I think I'd rather have a bone-chilling night with an opportunity to see the stars, but there's no controlling Mother Nature, despite our feeble human wishes to do so. Just ask anyone in New Jersey, New York or Boston. They'll tell ya.

There were a few blips of action tonight; two people needed help finding their cars in the parking garage (it happens all the time), one late flight (landing at 0109), a JetBlue A320 canceled out of JFK (resulting in a loss of 150 passengers arriving at BTV and displacing 150 departing folks tomorrow) and a small domestic disturbance in the south concourse resulted in a police response. The travelers, a woman and man in their early 30s and their son who appeared to be about four, were clearly exhausted from a long day of delayed flights, overpriced airport food, snaking lines ending at overworked customer service agents.

Upon their midnight arrival at BTV's south concourse gate 14, the aforementioned couple became confused about where their car seat (which had been gate checked in Detroit) was located. Before they knew it, their behavior drew the attention of both myself and the Burlington Airport Police. As they explained their situation to a serious looking member of law enforcement, they continued their verbal abuse of each other, raising their voices, seemingly oblivious to the fact that they were home, they had made it. Their four year old son was standing, miraculously, under his own power, on his own two feet. I looked at my watch, noting the time. Midnight. The officer, growing impatient with the parents antics, gave them a quick motivational speech, "I'm going to need some identification and find out why you're doing things you shouldn't be doing at the airport." The couple began digging out their IDs.

The wife, who had just been screaming at her husband and the gate agent about the location of the car seat, explained the situation. "Officer, we've had a very long day and my son and I just want to go home." Nodding towards her husband, she added, "This is the father of my son. He's was just trying to get the car seat for us and then we're heading our separate ways." The husband, who had earlier seemed calm and collected, appeared annoyed by this public assertion of their impending separation, forcefully telling his future ex, "Look, you don't need to be showing your ID. You two just go to baggage claim and I'll handle this." The officer stiffened a bit, stating, "Nobody is going anywhere for the time being." As the officer waited for the dispatcher to verify the couple's identity, he asked, "You're not wanted for anything are you?"

The situation concluded after their clean records were verified a minute or so later. No warrants for their arrest, no fugitives from justice, just three people caught up in a moment over a missing car seat, unaware how insignificant the moment really was. The mother and the child parted ways from the father, causing the child to cry in the heart-wrenching way a four-year-old cries upon separating from a parent they no longer live with. Witnessing this sad moment unfold reminded me of the varied complexity and uncontrolled elements in life. To a child, life is simple; your parents are simultaneously your identity and your universe. To an adult, the universe is vastly more complex, your identity forged by elements of your past and the hope for your future. In the end, the universe cares little what cards you are dealt. I’m not sure what to make of all this. But for now, I've been reminded to deal my three year old daughter and four year old son the best hands I possibly can. I’ll stack the deck if I have to.

Love and joy come to you,
And to you your wassail too;
And God bless you and send you a Happy New Year
And God send you a Happy New Year.