Officially in GA

We made it! And it wasn't the kind of "barely-made-it-because-the-plane-ride-was-so-stressful" made it. We made it in flying colors! Abilene was an absolute champ in the airport and on the plane.

It was Abilene and I's first time flying on Southwest and I could not have more good things to say about it.

::Insert imaginary pro-bono ad for Southwest here::

Without going into all the details of the flight, let me just tell you one awesome thing about flying Southwest.

Okay, maybe two.

First, Southwest doesn't charge you for your first checked bag. That's enough to choose them, period.

But second(!), Southwest also doesn't assign you a seat on the plane. Instead, you are assigned a spot in line to board the plane. The earlier you check-in to your flight, the closer you are to the front of the line. When it's time to board the plane, everyone gets in their spot in line, walks through the gate, gets on the plane and simply picks a seat.

Now, I know that could prove to be a problem for some people. For example, if you're one of the last people to board a full flight, I'm sure it must feel like your Forest Gump trying to find a seat on the bus for the first day of school ("Can't sit here"). But! If you're me, you could not be in a better situation.

"Why's that?" you ask.

Well, because I'm the "lady with a baby" and it never felt better to be glanced-at-and-then-ackwardly-passed-by-because-they-know-that-I-know-that-they-don't-want-to-sit-by-me. My self-esteem didn't drop for one second.

I boarded the plane, walked my pretty little butt (no comments, please) straight to the back, sat in the window seat and let Abilene "stretch out her legs". And by "stretch out her legs" I mean "propped Abilene up just high enough that her head could be seen by the other people boarding the plane so that they would know what 'terror' would await them if they sat by me".

Seriously, Abilene might as well have been a "I have tuberculosis, you don't want to sit here" sign. Which is ironic, because I do have tuberculosis but that's another story (don't worry, it's inactive. You don't have to clean off your computer screen after reading this or anything).

Everyone finished boarding and I sat in all my entire-row-to-myself glory, allowing the "Hallelujah Chorus" to play over and over again in my head.

It. was. awesome.

The extra space gave me more than enough room to keep Abilene entertained and she didn't make one peep the entire ride. Win for me. Win for Abilene. Win for everyone else on the plane.

We'll see how the plane ride home goes but Southwest may just have a customer for life.