Flying to Texas

I don't like Texas. I don't make any secret of it.

This is even though I recognize that my dislike is rather unfair. I've only been to the state a small handful of times, and most of those visits were brief trips to just one part of Texas, the Dallas-Fort Worth area.

And I really like just about everybody from Texas I've ever met. Some of my best friends are Texans, for goodness's sake.

Nevertheless, I hold onto my prejudice. And this is despite the fact that my sister has lived there most of her adult life and will continue to do so. If I want to see her, I sometimes have to go to Texas. I visited her last December, for the first time since she graduated from college more years ago than I care to specify. And T, Rainbow, and I visited her again two weeks ago.

This was a big event for two reasons: First, my only

The beautiful bride with her niece

sister, my little sister, was getting married. Second, it was Rainbow's first big trip; most of her outings up until then were visits to the pediatrician. 

Even though I have some experience in international travel (and international moving), I was anxious about this trip even before Rainbow was born. And I approached packing as if preparing to head out on the Oregon trail. T and I packed at least twice the amount of stuff we would have had if it had just been the two of us traveling. I was nervous about feeding Rainbow. I was nervous about going through security with her. I was obsessed with the thought that she would have one of her sounding-like-a-cat-being-skinned-and-set-on-fire screaming fits on the airplane. I imagined the glares we would get. 

Well, I think she inherited her daddy's knack for

traveling. She traveled very well, and rather than glares, most of the time we got smiles and heard the sounds of happy inhalations and exhaled "ohs" and "ahs" as we walked by people (because, you know, Rainbow is just so gosh darn cute). Besides one irritating row-buddy on the plane ride back, who thought having two kids of his own made him an expert on mine ("Is her diaper dirty? No? Well, then she needs milk"), people were friendly and kind and flatteringly admiring.

People love a daddy with his baby in a sling

In less than two months, Rainbow will be going on a much bigger trip, to her new home in Kodiak, Alaska. I still have a lot to learn about traveling with a baby before then, but I am relieved to have Rainbow's first air travel experience out of the way.