Actually, more on traveling through Chicago Midway. . .
I was looking for an empty seat at the gate I was supposed to depart from, and the only seat I found was in the middle of a group of disconnected people, or so I thought. They were all minding their own business, so I was able to pull out a book and start reading. Turns out they were all leaving Chicago for home after a two day business conference and a bit tired.
Then the boss showed up, and the conversation became animated and the group started interacting, and, quite frankly, became annoying. I tried to continue reading, but it just wasn’t going to happen. I glanced around for another empty seat, and didn’t see anything promising, so I stayed put. You just can’t get any privacy at an airport unless you want to hide in the handicap stall in the men’s room, but then you are in danger of being bothered by a member of Congress or the Senate.
One of the women of this group had one of those 4″ thick paperbacks, weighing in at 7 pounds 6 ounces and 10 inches long, of BABY NAMES.
She was a jolly mother-to-be, and started reciting name after name after name from this book and asking all in her party for comments and suggestions. I was getting glossy-eyed until the conversation turned . . .
“I like the name Nevaeh (na-vay-ah). I never heard it until about six months ago, now I hear it all over the place. It’s Heaven backwards.”
There was a collective, silent groan by those who overheard this, except for the enabler in the group, who told her that Nevaeh was beautiful. Then the enabler said “I also like the names Lunesta and Allegra.” Several members of this group made comments about those names being beautiful as well. None made mention of the fact that they were names of pharmaceuticals! At this point I determined that these were just really, really polite people with no interest in a debate or argument.
I’m now looking at the Lunesta and Allegra websites; right below the welcome blurb, there’s a long list of side effects, which I won’t go into. I’m sure you’ve all heard the comedy routines about side effects. But at the end of the Lunesta safety information, there’s this disclaimer:
Remember that no medicine is for everyone.
And neither is naming babies.
gilmark
