I was flying to Pennsylvania. But the journey did not begin so well. When I was at my first airport, after we passengers were seated, and the flight attendants went through their safety and comfort spiel, we were, I thought, headed to our first stop.

The man to my left was a talker. He saw me reading my book but he was undeterred. “What unit are you in?” he asked. (I was in uniform.) I told him. He went on to tell me about himself, what shop he worked in back on post, what unit he was part of, people he knew, etc. He was quite pleased with himself. I listened for him to take a breath. Then, I thought, I would return to my book.

I was literally saved by a bell. It was my personal cell phone. A friend texted me and my old iPhone went “Ping!” I did not hesitate. I reached for my phone to read the text. Though it was nothing terribly interesting either, I thought this could be my escape from Mr. Awesome’s fascination in telling me how fortunate I was to be seated next to him.

Suddenly the pilot’s voice came on the intercom speaker. “Folks, this is your pilot speaking. Unfortunately we are going to be delayed. We have too much weight underneath. We are going to have to move some of the checked items back into the cabin. Thank you for your patience. As soon as we the weight acceptably arranged, we’ll push back on be on our way.”

He was articulate, to the point, and calm. I liked the way the pilot spoke and dealt with things, and now I had more time with Mr. Awesome. (Just a few more reasons to bring BIG BOOKS when flying. You may experience delays. And you may even have Mr. Awesome seated next to you. And if you do, you will know about it, I promise. He’ll be sure to tell you.)