This day is finally winding down.  I’ve been awake since 3:40 a.m. CT and am now ready to crash at 10:30 p.m. ET. That would be the time zone, not the alien.  Anyway, that should clue you in as to how tired I am.  There’s nothing like flying to wear you out and at the same time, provide you with all kinds of entertainment.

I’ve had the opportunity to travel quite a bit lately and have this whole TSA thing down to an art form, especially if I happen to get TSA Precheck.  Unless of course I’m flying out of Lincoln.  You see, there is a kind of frantic dance that occurs going through airports and airport security.  You can always tell the newbies from the more experienced passengers.  But in my lovely town of Lincoln, where the airport has only four gates, things are well, shall we say, a little more laid back.

Knowing I don’t need very much time to go through security there, I did push it just a little bit this morning, so I was a little concerned about being late.  I didn’t need to be.  I dash up to my spot in line – there’s only two people ahead of me – and I overhear the ticket person saying, “so how is your son doing?  I haven’t seen him for awhile.” He and his customer are having a lovely conversation about her son and taking their good old time.  Don’t they know this is an airport?  Don’t they understand they are supposed to be cold and dismissive in their interactions with travelers?

As he finishes with her, he calmly takes care of the next lady and then it’s my turn.  Only this time, he’s a little distracted.  Several other people have come into the line behind me and there is only one other person there at 5:00 a.m. to help him and he’s not only the ticket counter person, he’s the person who takes your ticket upstairs at the gate.  He finished with me fairly quickly, I go upstairs and do the security thing.  The only perk of TSA Precheck here is I get to keep my shoes on. The TSA person congratulated me on doing a great job getting everything ready (I felt so validated) and did it with a smile on his face.  When the little buzzer went off as I went through the metal detector, the lady said it was probably just a little glitch and to go back and try again.  I apparently did a better job walking the second time and was sent off with another smile.  So disarming when all I’m expecting is robotic efficiency and demeaning directives.  To top it all off, when I went to board the plane the same ticket guy smiled and said, “hi again!” like we were old friends now.

Then on to Atlanta where I had just enough time to grab a real live southern biscuit before boarding for New York.   Warm and soft with just enough butter melted on the top with some spicy sausage inside.  Heaven.  Not like the hockey pucks I get at home.  Oh, and speaking of heaven, did I tell you that I didn’t have to sit by anyone on either flight?  The travel gods were certainly with me today!  Then it was on to LaGuardia, where I’ve since learned that the landings are ALL that fast and bumpy because the runways are short.  That’s right, the pilot is slamming on the breaks so we don’t skid off the runway.  Other than that, everything else went like clockwork, a cab was hailed and shared with a couple of colleagues I ran into at the airport,  we arrived at the hotel without a scratch, checked into the hotel and on to Central Park for a walk.

All of this to get together with some familiar faces and some new faces at a place that is a Mecca for singers, the Metropolitan Opera. The familiar hallways several floors under street level, the rehearsal space, the red carpet, the golden gates, all familiar and still awe inspiring, just because of where they are.  I enter with excitement and some trepidation because I know we’ll be asked to do something that will stretch us a bit, but that’s what learning is, right?  I’m greeted by the wonderful woman who is facilitating the week and she calls me by name.  How wonderful to be recognized by someone you admire.  Last year she suggested a read a book about introverts and said it would change my life.  It did.  I’m hoping to change others now as well.  It’s not just music we learn about at this conference.

So now, I finish the day to  the sounds of rain, thunder, sirens and car horns.  After all, this is the city that never sleeps, right?  Somehow I don’t think I’m going to have any trouble sleeping tonight, despite the noise.  Tomorrow will bring more new adventures and I want to really experience every one of them.  Just another day in the life.