Friday, August 08, 2008

"Fried Fridays: OOPS..."

I jokingly (yet truthfully) tell people I could never be a surgeon. I can just see that moment after finishing the most complicated new procedure in the world...cutting edge work (now that I think about that, pun intended)...never-done-before technique...and within a few minutes stopping and saying to myself, "I don't remember what I did with that third sponge..."

Sure as shootin' I'd have left something inside the patient...
In like manner, if I ever travel anywhere, even if but for a night, it's never 'will I forget something?' as it's ALWAYS 'what did I forget THIS time?'

And so in that vein I mused in disbelief, caught between laughter and horror over a story you may well have read or heard about from days ago.....


DATELINE: JERUSALEM ('THE' ONE)

I can relate to the stress of family vacations, in the sense that there are sometimes deadlines to be met to keep connecting flights, etc. You are on edge. Every second counts. You give it your best shot to do all you can do to make it all 'work'. You're fidgeting. You're nervous. You are thinking way ahead of the curve, or at least trying to.


In this case, you and your spouse have 5 children. You have 18 pieces of baggage. You have just flown in to the Ben-Gurion airport in Jerusalem, later than expected, and you are in a mad rush to catch a charter flight to Paris for your long-awaited family vacation. Lots of money on the line. Hard-earned money, too. This vacation means everything. You're putting it down on the line.

OOPS.

Somehow you left your 3-year old daughter behind in the terminal, unattended. You barely make the flight. Your 3-year old makes tears. She is found wandering around the duty-free shopping area frightened and lost.


I've read many stories of people being left here and there accidentally and oh-so strangely...but what really gets me about this story isn't that nobody noticed they were a child or sibling down...


...but that they realized it ONLY after a flight attendant brought it to their attention...

...40 MINUTES AFTER
TAKE-OFF....


Overlooking something is one thing. Overlooking a young child and not being aware of it for such a long period of time is, well, almost criminal. One can't help but to wonder whatthehell they were thinking, any of 'em. And then to have to have someone else tell you about it when 6 genetically linked heads were clueless.


Luckily, authorities quickly sheltered the child and escorted her on the next flight to Paris, reuniting all...and just HOW did this all possibly happen? It's reminiscent of the old Tootsie Pop ad which closed with the phrase, "...the world may never know."


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Have a good 'un, y'all. I'm off from work next week, but should be able to get into blogging mode, so stay tuned and enjoy the stellar weekend weather ahead!



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