In February we started traveling with Lucy. Jason and I have “busy seasons” in our travels for our speaking gigs so rather than being apart for six weeks we decided to make it work as a family. In Lucy’s short four months of life she has now been on 20 flights, visiting 12 different states. Comparing our travels BL (before Lucy) and now, we have determined one thing: Life is so much more fun with a baby!
The biggest thing we noticed is that people are so much more friendlier now. The roughest, toughest looking hardened adults are instantly transformed into the biggest softies when they see Lucy and smile at her. This was very evident during our recent travels to New Orleans. In the airport folks of all ages were smiling and waving at her. It was almost as if I was the chauffeur for the grand marshal of the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade. Or maybe a better analogy is that I’m the body guard for a very tiny celebrity. Complete strangers have asked me to hold her and even feed her. Strangely enough, no one has asked me to change her stinky diaper, though.
While walking the streets of the French Quarter she turned heads and was the subject of pointing and smiles from many a passerby. Jason and I love to watch how other kids are drawn to babies. Toddlers not much older than Lucy are guaranteed to be the first in a room to notice her, “Baby! I wanna see the baby!” We ended up meeting quite a few other kids along the way. We joked that we should have a baby all of the time. People are just so nice!
Of course the other interesting thing is that whenever we board a plane with her our in-flight neighbors are 100 times friendlier at the end of the flight, after she’s “been a good girl.” I’ve never seen so many looks of terror than sitting on an airplane with a baby.
The fear of the screaming baby really changes the friendliness factor.
Apparently there is something magical about seeing a miniature human that gets Adultitis to melt away instantly. Smiling at babies is definitely a quick fix when fighting the Big A. Maybe we should start a “rent a smiling baby” agency as an Adultitis Hospital. When they start to cry you just give them back. It sure seems like it’d be a million dollar idea. Wait… isn’t that what being a grandparent is all about?!