Airport Security

I travel a lot and I thought I'd mastered the art of the expeditious security screening. It's really very simple. Right off the bat, grab 3 plastic containers and line them up. Place your shoes in tray #1. Your jacket/hoodie goes in tray #2. And the last tray is for your laptop and plastic ziplock. Your bags bring up the rear. Push your entire column onto the belt all at once. Your stuff is guaranteed to come out in the perfect order!

But today a slight twist was added to the whole process as I brought my cat Amber with me to California. She's a black cat with yellow eyes (they were amber colored when she was a baby). She's my girl and she's a complete sweetheart. For future reference (keyword future), additional steps should include: Send all of the above through the x-ray first. Place carrier on the counter. Take out cat and hold on tight! You should NOT do what I did today which was: Freak out and let go of cat! Watch cat run through the security booth! Run down the hall in socks chasing cat! Look back and observe 5 security screeners chasing with you!

Amber eventually ran into a corner and I was able to snatch her back up. There was applause, smiles, a bit of laughter, and lots of "awwwwww, sooooo cute!" I'm not sure who was more shaken by this near disaster, Amber or myself? But we made it to Cali safe and sound. I love how the baggage claim at Long Beach airport is actually outside! Amber and I sat on the pavement in the 78 degree sun waiting for our bags to come out and shared a little chuckle about our latest adventure.