On Wednesday we left for Pittsburgh to reunite with family for Thanksgiving. Our flight was at 4pm, so I spent the morning getting ready. Lydia accompanied me to Target to find kid-sized headphones and new coloring things for the plane. I was terrified about flying with Ammon, so we stocked up on activities and snacks.
We got to the airport early in anticipation of Thanksgiving traffic. The radio reported that there were fifty-million people traveling. As we pulled into our parking spot at the airport, the car behind us started honking. It turned out to be Abe’s friend, Eric, from work. We were really grateful for the coincidence because he helped us with all of our luggage. I got our family of six down to two backpacks, a carry-on sized roller bag, a snack bag, a small duffel, and a laptop bag, but with the two strollers it was still a lot to manage.
We were shocked to discover that there was literally no line at security. As in: there was not a single person in front of us. We walked through. We had enough time to eat a leisurely, overpriced meal at the airport before boarding our flight to Chicago.
Our layover was pretty short, but we had no trouble catching our next flight to Pittsburgh. We landed around 11pm, and Clark came to pick us up. We squeezed most of us into his car and Abe and Lydia took an Uber over to Clark’s apartment.
How did the kids do on the flight? Clarissa was a peach. I swaddled her, attached her to myself, and she basically nursed and slept the whole way to Pittsburgh. Lydia and Mary were highly entertained by the plane activities we brought, and Ammon…let’s just say, Abe is an amazing parent. He patiently entertained Ammon the whole way to Pittsburgh. It took a lot of focus and infinite amounts of creativity to keep Ammon happy in his confined space. Thank goodness Abe is one of the most creative people on the planet. He kept Ammon very happy.
While we drove, Clark expounded on the amazingness of Pittsburgh. Here were his talking points:
1. Pittsburgh was the home of the Industrial Revolution’s tycoons, and so it is the only rust belt city to not go rusty.
2.There is a lot of money in Pittsburgh that keeps its economy robust, and there is a psychic connection between New York and Pittsburgh. (See number one.)
3. Pittsburgh is also home to two great universities, the University of Pittsburgh (Swathi’s alma mater!) and Carnegie Mellon. Clark said Carnegie Mellon grads always stand out among the people he hires. He feels they get a superior education.
4. They have one of the best medical systems in the country. This is good for Swathi, who is a doctor.
5. Sports. He said there was so much to say about this topic that he couldn’t even begin to cover it. (Also, I wasn’t the right audience to appreciate the topic.)
6. People who live in Pittsburgh love Pittsburgh, so said Clark.
He is clearly doing as the Romans do.