Blissfully Numb by Natalie June Reilly

by Natalie June Reilly

One Mom's Version of the Mile-High Club

For the first time in my entire life I slept with a complete and total stranger and I did it in the belly of a Boeing 737 that was approximately one mile high up in the air without one vacant seat on board. OK – so it wouldn’t exactly qualify me for the Mile-High Club or anything sexy like that, but it’s more than what you’d ever come to expect from an almost 40 year-old woman who shamelessly still blushes when a man simply makes it a point to tell her that he thinks she’s beautiful.

This rare and somewhat dreamy occasion occurred somewhere between Orlando and Houston. Sitting next to me was this strapping, unassumingly handsome bloke wearing an expensive, black, leather jacket, a clean white shirt, a five o’clock shadow and a pair of Lucky Brand blue jeans that fit the way blue jeans were meant to fit a man. The only reason I noticed was because he had to squeeze by me to get to his seat.

Our eyes met on a couple of occasions as he settled in. His were a warm brown with flecks of amber interspersed in them and mine were… well mine were a bedazzled green.

Except for the fact that I wasn’t wearing any lipstick and I was dressed in a tired, black sweat-suit, I felt that the next three-hours could prove to be quite interesting, if not downright enjoyable. So as he fumbled to turn off his cell phone, I fumbled for my lip gloss, secretly smoothing on a shade of Plum Kiss.

“Good morning,” he smiled as the plane taxied down the tarmac. Apparently the cat had gotten hold of my tongue because all I could muster was a smile. For the first time I think ever, I wasn’t totally turned off by the cramped quarters of flying coach. We sat shoulder to shoulder, sharing the same arm rest and as the plane took off, though I tried to fight it, I could feel my eye lids getting heavy. It had been a long morning without an ounce of sleep from the night before and it was still only 6:35am.

Needless to say, it didn’t take long for this old girl to nod off. I was wiped out from having spent four nights in a row getting up in the middle of the night with my newborn nephew. This was simply another case of missed opportunity, however, not without its charm. Three hours later it was the sound of the flight attendants’ shrill voice that jerked me back to consciousness. It was already time to prepare for our landing, so much for a great conversation with Mr. Lucky Brand and what a waste of perfectly good lip gloss.

As soon as I opened my eyes I noticed that I had been sleeping with my head on this guys’ shoulder. Although I don’t think he minded that much because he had actually zonked out himself and woke up with some kind of a knowing grin on his face when he saw that my face was curled up right next to his.

“Sorry,” I whispered, my cheeks red hot with embarrassment for having unknowingly made myself at home on his very accommodating shoulder. I was tempted to blame the turbulence or point out the fact that his broad shoulder had reached over onto my side, but instead I just bit my lip. I was just glad that I didn’t do something really ridiculous like drool on his leather jacket or tangle arms with him in my sleep.

He just smiled at me with bedroom eyes that would give George Clooney a run for his money and said; “No harm. No foul. You can lean on me anytime.” And as our plane touched down in Houston that was the extent of our perfectly scandalous relationship, especially considering that I had to take off like a bat out of hell because I had like 12 minutes to make it to my connecting flight.

I just find it crazy the places life will take us and the people that we’ll meet along the way. I’ll never know the name of the man whose shoulder I borrowed that day, but maybe that’s half the fun. However, I do owe him a great big thank you, the handsome man with the five o’clock shadow. Thank you… whomever you are!

Natalie June Reilly is a single mother of two handsome, teenaged boys and the author of the children’s book; My Stick Family; Helping Children Cope with Divorce.

Her day job is that of Communication’s Specialist, but her heart and soul dwells deep in her love of being a columnist and making her way through her own right of passage one column at a time.

You can catch her most recent blog with the Arizona Republic by clicking on: http://www.azcentral.com/members/Blog/nataliereilly/,

Reach Natalie at girlwriter68@hotmail.com.

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