Say what?

I heart Southwest very much. If one could marry an airline, I may have considered it. They are speedy, helpful, reasonably priced, efficient, pleasant, and so on and so on. During my year of Long Distance Dating, Southwest and I got to know each other very well. We are good friends.

But even good friends can sometimes say to each other, Um, say what?

A dear friend is coming to visit soon and happily, she is flying Southwest. Yay! But when I looked through her itinerary, I saw the following:

Base fare: $x.xx
Excise taxes: $10.32
Segment fee: $7.40
Passenger facility charge: $9.00
Security fee: $5.00

What in the world is a passenger facility charge? No one picks you up and carries you over a threshold or gives you a piggy back ride. This is quite silly. If as passengers we have no option but to pay these strange fees, I say, put it all under the "Ticket cost." I won't be any wiser, but I won't feel like I'm getting taken for a $32 ride! Bleh.

Bestie

There are times in life when the people you love say or do something that stops you in your tracks and makes you think, damn, I love this person! Lucky for me, my fiance does/says things like this all the time. I take it as a good sign of a lifetime to come. But someone else who will be standing next to me when I get married does this as well.

Meet my bestie, we'll call her Maid Monkeypants because, well, she loves monkeys, and I think "pants" cutseys up any old word.

Recently, I had been harboring a secret that I did not want to voice out loud in fear of being stoned and run out the proverbial village that is "Things You Must Do At Your Wedding." It has to do with my dress. Now, the mister doesn't want to know what the dress looks like, so I have to be rather mysterious here. But let's say I wanted to do something that a lot of brides would consider sacrilegious. But the other day, I mull up the courage. I tell Maid Monkeypants, "ummm I'm kind of thinking of [said bridal faux-pas]. I think it might be a bigger pain in the butt than it's worth." Her response: "Yea, I totally know what you mean. If it you want to do it, go for it." It was one of those moments when I thought, Damn, I love this woman! There was no moaning & groaning taken out of that hateful "Things You Must Do At Your Wedding" book or bridesy cliches. This is a perfect example of why Maid Monkeypants is not only my maid of honor, but my best friend, too. Over the last seven years(!!!) we've known each other, she has always been supportive even when I probably made it hard and she probably wanted to yell at me, "Holy moly woman, how many times can we talk about THE.SAME.DAMN.THING?!" and has always looked out for my best interest. And throughout my relationship with the mister, she has provided endless helpful advice and support, and I'm proud to have her standing up with me, or rather, us.