Thoughts From The Middle Seat
It was nearly 3:00am local time. Most people were sleeping, or trying to sleep. I woke up slowly, in the space of not wanting to wake, but relenting to it. As I fully woke I realized that I needed to go to the bathroom. The woman seated next to me was in a peaceful slumber. So, I sat quietly in between this sleeping stranger and my love, who was sleeping against the window.
The thing is that once you have to go, there is no real turning back from that. Just the game of how long can you hold it? I sat there quietly in the middle seat imagining the possibility of somehow getting over her without waking her up. I imagined unbuckling my seatbelt standing on my chair, putting a foot on her external arm rest that she was not using, jumping off it, and gracefully landing in the isle. Possibly adding a flip if it felt right. I saw it is my head so perfectly, almost like a dream. It seemed so possible.
But the thing is, I am not graceful. Not even a little bit. I am the type of person who can trip over my own two feet on flat ground, while standing still. More likely to have happened, would have been me falling in her lap while grasping the seats in front of me, waking that whole family in that row and terrifying probably a radius of 20 people who would have heard the thud of my fall to the ground.
I did not attempt this feat, but rather waited 30 minutes until I thought I would burst. She stirred a bit, so I woke her. Grateful for the relief, when I returned to my seat I found myself laughing at my thoughts from the middle seat and wondering if anyone else was in a similar predicament.
