The flight into Seattle

I'm sleepless this morning in Seattle.

I had a good flight out of Los Angeles last night. For the first time in almost two years (in fact, for the first time since I started writing about Sarah), I was on Sarah's airline. It was good to see that the plane was nicely painted and well-maintained; United's exit from bankruptcy must have helped (though it would've been too late to help Sarah after layoff). The service was good - and the video short subjects included clips of The Breakup, a movie starring Jennifer Aniston, one of Sarah's (and my) idols. To set the tone right, I made sure to listen to Sarah McLachlan - Sarah's other idol and namesake - during the flight.

It was nice to be able to observe the flight attendants, from the time they gathered at the gate to board the flight, to the time when they waved the passengers goodbye. They didn't have the sense of humor their counterparts at Alaska and Southwest have, but they were very professional and competent.

As I stared into the empty aisle during the flight, I could almost picture a six-foot-tall redhead, in a navy blue coatdress and winged pin, walking up and down and checking on the well-being of passengers. I really wanted Sarah to be there as my flight attendant!

Now I am in Seattle, a city that won't be a setting in the novel, but a place where I'll have experiences with the LGBT community that will probably end up as raw material for the novel. I will see how things develop here over the next four days.