An Airport Anniversary: A True Story
By Tanya, age 14, Alabama
We arrived at the airport on December 30th at 6:00 in the evening. Our flight was "supposed" to be at 8:00 that evening, as it was written on our boarding passes. However, when we got to the airport, we found out our booking ID number had been changed, and we had not been informed, and our flight had taken off at 8:00 that morning!
There was no other alternative, except to take a morning flight, the first one being at 9:30 the next morning. So we decided to camp out at the airport, fishing out our shawls and spare jackets, since it was freaking cold!
Now my parents were sorely disappointed because their first anniversary in India after 10 years was taking a completely crazy turn. However, being the unique people they are, they decided to make even this anniversary a special one. My dad, on the pretense of going to the bathroom, sneaked off to this little pastry shop in the airport where he bought a platter of brownies that he stacked up in a tower. This was the "cake."
My mom went over to the airline counter, stapled two pieces of paper together, and made my dad a card. Though it was the rawest card ever in terms of decoration, she tapped into her poetic brain power and wrote my dad a sweet poem.
Though the anniversary lacked pomp and festivity, my parents made it unforgettable. As they bit into the cake, instead of saying Happy Anniversary, they said, "Oh how I hate airports!"
