It is hard to remember sometimes just how easy it was to hang out in an Airport during the 1980s. THIS was one of my father's favorite past time if he had to babysit all 3 of us kids without our mother then he often took us to the airport. The Boise Airport was the biggest in the whole state and yet small enough to walk the whole length of it on a Sunday afternoon. I remember my Dad carrying a Styrofoam cup of coffee as my brother and sister ran with me up the rows of empty seats in the wide open airport. We wander around looking for airplanes landing or coming in. As soon as our father spotted one he would call out to us and we would all rush to smash our faces up against the big huge windows as a plane touched down! It was exciting to see! I loved learning all about how airplanes worked. Dad always explained everything about airports to us, I remember those events as hardly ever having many people around too! "Can we ride on one?" I asked one time and my father shook his head in his reply he said that maybe someday but we didn't have any place to go for now. I was startled once watching 2 women burst out crying at the sight of each other, I looked worriedly at my father who smiled and rolled his eyes. "They are okay, they are just happy to see each other." He explained thoughtfully, but I wasn't so sure for they were REALLY sobbing into each others arms. On those airport afternoons looking back I think to myself it was so much fun in a very relaxing way, (of course we thought at the time that they were a bit more boring) For if there wasn't any planes landing then we just walked in circles. I guess what we had in that kind of freedom was taken for granted, That open empty airport days...... for what we got to see without even a "bordering pass" was truly magical and even educational. One time a flight attendant gave us winged pints to stick on our shirts and I thought that was super cool! As a kid I knew the layout of the Boise Airport so well that I didn't have to read anything to find my own way around.
I was waiting in front of a solid color door, our mom had dragged us by the arm running fast down the airport hallway. She was panicked and frustrated pulling on our arms and pushing us into line and I didn't know why exactly. We had been at the wrong gate for awhile, I had discovered by the way our mother ran to the opposite side of the airport that something was exciting her. Our father had taken an out of state temporary job so all I really knew was that suddenly he was gone. I remember it because I saw my mother really cry for the first time, it scared me actually that she was crying suddenly all the time! I think she struggled on her own with 3 small kids. I can still remember standing right in front of that door at the end of the airport. I was wondering what was going on while I watched my mother rub her forehead like she had a headache after all our running around, my brother and sister pushed on each other to get in the front of the line when suddenly the door swung open! We squealed in unison "DAAAAADDDDDDDDDY!" and threw our small selves into his wide open arms, along with His big grin and dark shaded glasses. He happily hugged us! I remember his sunburn skin as he held all three of us at once. How many months was he gone? I realized I had actually simply forgot about him through out my day until our mom would cry. I will never forget when she fell to the kitchen floor sobbing so hard and squealed out that she missed our father. Then suddenly I would wonder why was he gone? As I sat on the floor with her...It was hard for me to understand what was happening. The sudden fact our father was there again and our mother was happy too made me hang on him through out our walk back to the car. I loved that Dad gave us kids gifts too, I wore my blue sun visor with white hearts very proudly as we left the Boise airport.
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