When we were standing in line for security at the airport, I saw my uncle who is a pilot for American Airlines. I called him over and asked him what flight he was flying that day. Turns out, by some random chance, he was our pilot! He told us that we needed to pop our head into the cockpit and say hi when we got on board. But when we got there, a man that worked for the airlines was in our way. So I made the comment to Richard that we would have to say hi on the way out. Well, one of the flight attendants overheard me and I guess was expecting us to board. She immediately welcomed us on, but told us she was sorry that we were traveling under these circumstances (for the funeral) and told us that the pilot had saved a spot for one of our carry on bags right up front with the employee's bags. Ha...nice. She then asked us where we would be sitting and then said that she would make sure to come see us and help us during the flight. We thought that was nice of her but thought nothing more of it. Then during the flight, every flight attendant that passed us stopped by, wondering if we were doing okay and to ask us if they could get us anything. The airlines no longer give out free snacks so everyone had to buy them. The man next to us bought a sandwich for $6...clearly a rip off. But we were getting hungry so I asked how much the chips would cost. She said, "for you, free!" Everyone was looking at us wondering who we were and why we were so special. We felt pretty cool haha. After the plane landed, we waited for everyone else to get off the plane so we could go say hi to my uncle. He told us that he asked the flight attendants to give us the celebrity treatment...I think they did a good job! Then he let us sit up in the captains chair and check out the cockpit. It was really cool being able to sit up in the pilot's chairs. There were a lot of buttons and switches up there...it was a little overwhelming. But Richard loved the opportunity to see it all.
We got to Texas a few days before the funeral, so we had to find things to do. The adults wanted us out of the house so we decided to go to Six Flags over Texas. The only problem was that it was a record high temperature that day...107 with probably 100% humidity! Not the best weather to be outside all day...but we had a good time.
The funeral was really amazing. Richard's grandpa was a retired colonel in the US Air Force so he had a military funeral. The soldiers carried his flag covered coffin and then folded the flag and presented it to Richard's grandma. Then, they did a rifle salute, firing 7 shots, and then presenting the shells of the bullets to Richard's grandma. They also had a bag piper which was really cool. It was a great way to honor him and his life.
