TSA?

A true Michigan fan? Don't you love the colors!! This has absolutely nothing to do with the post, just a little football humor! :)

With all the talk lately about TSA and all of their new "patting down" and "super sonic x-ray thing-a-ma-jig" policies, I thought I'd let you know that as we were leaving the capitol city a week and a half ago, it happened to me! I'm not sure what Macchiato's version of TSA is called but as we went through the third set of security tables/scanners/door-way metal detectors the thing went off as I passed through. Now, mind you, it didn't go off the first two security checks and you want to know why? Because I'm a seasoned traveler. I have learned, sometimes the hard way, what belts, jewelry, and other things set them off and I am extremely cautious to avoid wearing them when I fly because, a) It is not worth the hassle and, b) when you have six people to move through security you do whatever you can to make it go smoothly! :) At least we don't have to remove our shoes in the airports overseas! With four kids, that's a blessing, although mine are finally old enough to all tie there own shoes it was always loads of fun when I had to do it for a couple of them!!

Anyway....back to the story....so I walk through the metal detector and I am not lying, before I even knew or could register what was going on this lady is patting all over me! I mean she was quick, I had barely stepped through the thing when she started! There was no asking, no informing, just instant hands all over me! So as I walk away a bit shell shocked I said, "Barry, they just patted me down!" to which he replied, "They did me too!" (Of course they probably couldn't start at the top with him! LOL) I told you all of that because I get a little behind in the news over here, and when I got back I saw some articles on the whole TSA issue and I thought I'd share my experience with all of you, I know, you can thank me later! :)

Not sure what the best solution is, I want my plane to be safe, but I also don't want anyone to be humiliated or taken advantage of, and just so you know, we didn't complain, it really was done professionally, well minus the whole tell you what needs to happen part! We didn't feel singled out, and I noticed that they did it to almost all of the adults who passed through. No, I didn't stay and watch. Because we were talking about what had just happened, we missed our gate which came immediately after that check point, so we had to turn around and come back! Trust me, you are enough of a freak show being six white people on the domestic side, walking all the way back after missing your gate is really fun....at least for those watching! :)

Well, this brings me to the other night. We were sitting around the dinner table laughing, when all of the sudden we hear someone bellowing at our front door. Bellowing. It was loud. It was so loud in fact, that everyone immediately got quiet as we tried to figure out what/who it was! Barry gets up from his seat and goes to the door while Marshall and Campbell peek around the corner to see who it is, well, it's a neighbor of ours. He is a friendly man, I call him an old man, Barry says that he is probably close to his age but has just had a hard life, missing most of his teeth and mostly gray haired. He tells us that his mother passed away and he needed money for something or another. This is a common occurrence, not with him but with many people, usually daily, we just have to see how we are led as to what we do. But I mention this guy because of how the kids described who was at the door to me. They said, "Oh, it's our neighbor who patted dad down when he first met him!" I cracked up because I had totally forgot about "the incident"! We had just moved in when this guy comes walking by wearing the traditional sarong and hat, literally shuffling as he doesn't walk well, and he starts a conversation with Barry. So as they are making introductions I am watching from the porch and I see this man reach out and starting at Barry's shoulders, he takes both hands and pats Barry's body all the way down to about his thighs!! What?! I couldn't wait to ask Barry what he said or why he did that! So when Barry came back I am laughing my head off because Barry didn't have a clue as to why that man did it as he said, "Oh, an American!"

Who knows maybe he secretly wants to work for TSA or maybe he is retired from Macchiato's version and old habits die hard! Just another day in our crazy life!