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Flying back to San Francisco from New York earlier this week, I sat across the aisle from a homely-looking, 40-something couple, both wearing red t-shirts and sporting matching short, mousy-brown haircuts.
As we prepared to take off from JFK, I noticed the woman placing her hand in the man's lap and, putting my peripheral vision to the ultimate test, I watched as the man began giving her a manicure. (Yes, a manicure.)
First, he carefully and lovingly filed each of her nails, followed by a cuticle clipping and thorough buffing. By the time we'd reached our cruising altitude, he was kissing her perfectly buffed fingertips and moving on to her other hand.
Later, the two passed a yellow legal pad between them, furiously jotting down notes and ideas. Planning a wedding, perhaps? Preparing to move? Strategizing a hostile takeover? Who knows? But in spite of the vital importance of whatever it was they were discussing, they still managed to hold hands and stroke each other's arms, hands and faces while engaged in urgent business.
Not long after their feverish brainstorming session, the woman said something to her man that I could not hear but could make out the excited "Guess-what-I-have-for-you?" tone in her voice. Then, much to her man's delight, she produced from her purse a brown paper bag filled with a veritable feast of sugary goodness--Snickers bars, Pepperidge Farm cookies, gummy bears, Jolly Ranchers, etc.--which she spread out across their two tray tables as if emptying her child's Halloween pumpkin after a lucrative night of trick-or-treating. Let the snacking begin!
Later, the two cuddled up (as best two people can cuddle in airplane seats, naturally) and watched a movie on the guy's iPod, laps and tray tables strewn with colorful candy wrappers.
I must say, it was refreshing to see two people so enjoy their six hours of forced couple time in such a way, even if it made my own solo flight seem longer and lonelier than ever. I realized that, of the dozens of flights I take each year, the majority are by myself (last year, I flew once with Jason--otherwise solo). And even though I look forward to the downtime to read, write, listen to music or just relax, I tend to feel much lonelier when in the presence of two people so enjoying their travel time together, sugary as it may be.
Posted by ayelet at February 22, 2008 06:56 PM