A recent shift in my living situation necessitated a reorganization (i.e., purge) of stuff. I've been putting this housecleaning off for years, although it's probably just as well I'm forced into it now. But like so many deferred tasks, it keeps sidetracking me on a trip down memory lane. Maybe that's why I kept putting it off...?

Anyway, I've now got a box of books slated for Green Apple. Anything they don't want gets dumped on the "free" table in front of the store.

I could dedicate a whole blog to the books themselves: why I kept them, where they came from, what crazy-ass Harvard extension lit class I read them for, etc. BUT, I'm going to spare you all that. Because I'd probably just end up keeping the damn books all over again!

No, the thing that sucked me back to the past--and unexpectedly challenged my perceived historical timeline--is a boarding pass for Piedmont Airlines tucked into one of the books as a bookmark.



I don't know why this feels like ancient history to me. I looked it up, and Piedmont Airlines (now part of US Airways Express) was around as a brand from 1993-1997. Not really all that long ago (in my timeline, at least). But the thing that's so quaint is the "no smoking" vs. "smoking" sections, with my seating assignment sticker stuck squarely on "no smoking." Is it really that recently you could smoke on an airplane? Turns out, as of September 1, 1998, smoking was prohibited on 91 percent of flights to and from the United States. So that "no smoking" designation really did mean something.

I know there are still plenty of vestiges of smoking on flights: the "no smoking" signs; the ashtrays in the armrests. It all seems so absurd now though. What were we thinking? Like you could really have a "no smoking section" on an airplane! Yeah right! And sign me up for the "no airborne illnesses" section while you're at it!

Anyway, I just wanted to share that.