We've All Got Quirks

The wedding recap will come, but I want to post the pictures with it, and I’m too exhausted to do that tonight. Let’s just say that it was a good weekend.

While traveling with people, you tend to learn things about them. There were many things learned amongst all of us this weekend, some of which I’ll share over the next few days.

One of the first things we learned, however, is that our quirks are sometimes contradictory and don’t always overlap. In the airport on the way to Houston, we had our first enlightenment.

I can’t take liquids through security, of course, but I like to drink a lot of water. I generally carry around a 24 ounce mug and drink several of them a day. As we headed to the gate, I told my friend that I needed to stop at a fountain to fill up.

She started to freak out. “You can’t do that! Go buy a bottle of water. You can’t do that!”

“Uhhh, why not? I need a drink for the plane.”

“That’s so gross! I’ll buy you a bottle of water. You can’t use the fountain.”

“I’m just filling up my cup; it’s fine. I just need a drink.”

“Suit yourself, but that’s so gross. People put their mouths on that thing.”

I walked back to her a moment later with a full mug, and the lightbulb went on. “Ohhhhhh, you were filling up a cup. That’s different. I thought you were drinking from it.”

Apparently, it’s ok to fill up a cup from a fountain for my friend. However, actually using your mouth to drink from the stream – without touching the fountain itself – is disgusting and can’t happen.

Interesting. Then again, since I can’t drink “bathroom water” I suppose I can’t talk. Yep, if water comes from a faucet in a bathroom – including in my own house – I can’t drink it. And yes, I do know they all come from the same source. It’s called a quirk.

************************************

When I landed in Houston, my hair went from normal, to hair on steroids. It literally rose up and out about four inches between the time we landed and the time we got to the Houstonian. Truly impressive.

But it got me to thinking…. Texans have big hair – stereotypically – and it works for them. They have haircuts that work in the humidity. My haircut is not designed to work in the humidity. It’s a challenge when I go from regular humidity to Texas humidity.

But what about people from Texas? Specially, what about people from Texas who compete in beauty pageants? Specifically, what about the Miss Texas competitor in the the Miss America pageant? She has her hair all nicely done in and for Texas. It works great there. Then she goes to Atlantic City, and her hair doesn’t rise the way it does at home. It’s flat! It doesn’t work with her haircut anymore. I wonder if they have the same issues that I do but in reverse.

Yep, the trains of thought tend to really wander when I’m tired. But man my hair had fun in Texas!