Thank God for high thread counts and other silver linings

I have to preface this post with the admission that I have officially become a middle-ager. Sure it's becoming obvious that I'm favoring function over fashion, whether it's my hair, my car, or my clothes. And when I was younger, I was more psyched for the quantity served at restaurants than the quality. Now, I only eat out for the company of friends or if the food is groundbreaking (like delicious vegetarian fare--okay, yes, I said it) or much better than something I can cook (whether it be sushi or well-made hash browns). If I miss out on another slab of grilled salmon, I'll be okay. Also, things like social principles or political issues for me were much more black and white in my 20s whereas now I'm seeing broader strokes. So much so that I'm sure younger me would want to scream and yell at current me for my middle-age opinions. Which brings me to the kicker: that I spend a lot of time inquiring, what is it with kids today?

For the first time I actually left at the required time to make my journey up to Charlotte airport with the recommended hour to spare for my flight up to NY to finally hug and kiss my new nephew. See? Like a mature person. As a conflicting message for my accomplishment, a big snowstorm hit the northeast early. So my flight was canceled. So I had to get into another line to reschedule another flight. And because everyone had a ton of questions, I was stuck waiting in line for a pretty long time and left to ponder this:

Okay seriously, what is it with kids today? How is this even hip or cool? If this kid's underwear was white or had a lower thread count, it would really be a visual case of why bother? Because as it was, this picture is much kinder than the live view--the fabric on this young man's underwear was so translucent, one could discern freckles. Since when did "follow the dotted line to my rectum" become a fashion statement?

Anyhoo, I was rebooked on an afternoon flight. After I got a coffee and hoped to snag some wifi, I got an automated message on my cell phone that the afternoon flight was canceled as well. I rebooked another flight after listening to various theories with the staff about whether certain planes are quicker to be canceled than others, etc. I planned to spend my afternoon here:

But after talking to my sister about the persisting snow in New York and that the other area airports including Philly weren't letting in flights, we came to the conclusion that it was highly unlikely that any flights were going to fly into New York today. Though the optimistic part of me (probably the same part of me that has consistently bet on the Detroit Lions these last couple of years and was rooting for Caleb Hanie to deliver a win over the Packers), thought what if the evening flight actually makes it into LaGuardia? In the end though, the smarter gambler in me switched to the flight tomorrow morning.

Which meant shuttling back to long term parking and driving the 90 miles from Charlotte back to Columbia. Not the most satisfying way to leave an airport. But the silver lining? I was able to hit the Costco here in Charlotte (there isn't one in Columbia) and dropped a figurative cool mil on a ton of stuff.

Another silver lining? I guess the automated system hadn't caught up with my changes because I received an automated call saying that the evening flight was canceled. Aaahh, a good bet pays off.