Greetings from BWI

I was expecting to have a pretty miserable Saturday -- I don't love flying even under the best of circumstances, when I'm traveling somewhere I've always wanted to go -- but an unexpectedly nice thing happened when we arrived at SeaTac for our flight east for Paul's mother's funeral: we discovered that we were on an Honor Flight with veterans from all the US armed forces being flown to see the memorials in DC. The oldest was a female World War II veteran in her late 90s, and there were veterans from the wars in Korea and Vietnam too, as well as family members and more recent military officers escorting them. 

This came with some perks for everyone on the plane, since Alaska provided cheese and fruit plates plus drinks (even alcohol) free to all of us, and we got to enjoy the plane decorations, the water cannon salute, and the applause when we disembarked. But it would have been wonderful just to witness the gathering before we boarded, the camaraderie among the soldiers and sailors, and the flight attendants -- some of whom were veterans as well -- dressed in retro uniforms and reading history chapters over the plane's PA system. We landed on time at BWI and now we're at a hotel in Hanover, watching the Maryland-Virginia game.