Wait
As the stewardess hands you a packet of zesty snack mix, the baby two rows up begins to cry. The conversation in the row behind you kicks the stupidity level up a notch, and the overall din of the plane has begun to rise.
You reach into your bag for your in-ear squishy headphones to escape. It has been a long week of work meetings, you want this flight to end and connect with that person on the ground, hunger and fatigue are gnawing on you and you don’t need the extra teeth of the plane noise. You slide the headphones into your ears and press play, and as the squishy material seals against your skin, the plane noise is drowned out, your music flows into your brain like a lifeline and you can breathe again. The situation improves.
You see the packet of zesty snack mix on your tray in front of you, and as you reach to tear it open, the woman next to you offers you hers. You are hungry, so you accept. You tear open the packet, pour the zesty mix of pretzels, flatbread and cheetos in your hand, throw the mix into your mouth, and bite down – and you are deafened by the sound of your jaws crunching down on this mix. You actually wince in pain from the noise of the sound. Holy shit.
You sit for a moment with the uneaten zesty snack mix resting in your mouth, pondering your dilemma. You don’t want to take out your headphones and lose your lifeline, but keeping your headphones in means you will deafen yourself with each crunchy bite you take. You never thought you’d risk losing your hearing listening to your own jaws. You take another bite, hoping it was temporary. CRRRUNNNNNNCH. Ow. And making it worse is the fact that each jaw-avalanche drowns out the music.
So your decision is to suck. You sit in your seat for the rest of the flight and suck through two packets of zesty snack mix, waiting for your saliva to slowly soften each small bite of mix to swallowable form. You have cocooned yourself and you are hungry, so you do what you must. You sit and look out the window, sucking on snack mix, watching the sun set, and wait for the plane to land.
