Toto Came Back With Me to Kansas

So it's 0-dark-thirty when I leave my apartment Tuesday morning (5:30 am) for the airport. One of my very kind friends has offered to give me a ride because "she'll be up all night studying anyway." I don't comprehend. No matter how unprepared I am for a test/paper/class/whatever, I stop working at 1 am. Sleep is very important to me. I've never pulled an all-nighter and never plan to. I would be physically incapable of functioning normally. Well, normally for me anyway. (I haven't been able to figure out how I can get home at 4am after a night out with friends and be "fine" the next day. Studying must really take it out of me...)

So I get to the airport and through security and am waiting to board the plane when I hear something yipping. I think it's just one of the little kids making a noise or like one of their toys or something (because there were a lot of little kids on my 6:30 flight.) Weird, I know. Cheap parents trying to get a cheap flight. Hey! I have an excuse. I'm a college student with no money. And my flight was free. Probably because it was SO EARLY. Poor kids. I bet their parents aren't scouring the city for the last Furby on the planet for a Christmas present--thanks MOM :) Oh... I guess that was the nineties...
Anyway, I hear someone mention something about a dog. Surely they don't let dogs through security. Either way, I thought it was a kid making a fuss because they were tired. WRONG.

I totally forgot to check-in for my flight until late the night before. Therefore, I'm in group B. I like to sit in the front because I have a sensitive stomach so I was COMPLETELY surprised when there were two open seats in the third row next to a girl only a few years older than me. ULTIMATE SCORE! Not only will there be a seat between us for extra room, but I won't have to sit next to a creepy old man trying to hit on me the whole way home (made for an interesting/disturbing ride home from Annapolis, Maryland when I was but seventeen. Long flight too). So I ask her if anyone is sitting there because she must have saved the seats for them to be open. "No," she replies, "But I have a dog." Picture this: I have already put my backpack overhead and am in the middle of sitting down with one hand on each armrest slowly lowering myself into the seat when I suddenly stop mid-air, jerk my head to the right, and say, "I'm sorry; you have a what??" "Umm, I have a dog," she says as she points to a little Yorkie yipping in its Louis Vuitton carrying case. Of course. Of course a woman from Dallas would not put her precious companion in the luggage area beneath us. Of course she wouldn't dream of boarding him in an animal shelter place-thing while she traveled for the holidays. No, no, no sir! He is her pride and joy and deserves to ride in the cabin with her. I try to keep a straight face from laughing as I slowly stand up and say, "Ok, thanks." And run to find another seat before all the good ones fill up. I find one still close enough to the front but far enough away so that I don't hear that dog yapping the whole time. Seriously, it was worse than a baby on the plane! And that baby atleast deserves to be there.

I'm sorry, little dog. I really don't have anything against you. It's just your owner. I mean really, lady, its already obnoxiously early in the morning to be flying and what if someone was really allergic to dogs (like my brother)? And I know you have learned to deal with the yipping that your precious little dog makes because you just love her so much you can learn to deal with anything, anything at all as long as you get to be with her...but the rest of us haven't, ok? I know she looks absolutely presh--especially in that oh-so-cute designer carrying case--and you just love to show off your little baby, but (and this is a very big but, madam) your dog is NOT a baby and no, I do not want to hold her or hear about all the cute things she does. And no, humping a chew toy is not cute. It's disturbing. So I will kindly slump away so you're not embarrassed that no one wants to sit next to you. Just so you know, it's not so much about the dog (well, ok yeah kinda). But everyone is also wondering what else goes on in your little brain if you think that bringing a dog onto an airplane is normal.

I really didn't even know that they allowed dogs into cabins of airplanes anyway! I was actually pretty shocked.

Then to top it all off, I finally get home, walk in the door, and am greeted by a small, loudly yapping Shorkie (half Shitzu, half Yorkie) that my parents decided to get as soon as my brother and I moved out of the house. Home sweet home. It must be the Holidays...