We knew our flight to Newark was going to be long when we took our seats just in front of the family we had been mocking while awaiting the boarding call. The family was complete with a young boy (XYZPDQ Peter!), his older brother wearing a woman's watch, their mother tuned into her book, and a controlling father.
The flight started out like any other. Before take-off the boys were given a portion of a piece of gum each. "Wait, wait, wait, NOW! Everyone start chewing!" Luckily we made it into the air safely. The rest of the flight was pretty uneventful, except for the lies being told. Who knew that seat backs needed to be in their upright position because it's better for your back?
The main event occurred during our descent. Older bro, Jeffrey, started having pain in his ears due to the change of pressure. Unfortunately, the gum was incorrectly portioned and there wasn't enough to heal the pain - Jeffrey was forced to yawn. "Yawn, Jeffrey, yawn" was yelled behind us by his frantic father. In turn, young Peter pointed out that he "highly recommended taking a car to visit grandma to prevent ear problems". Unfortunately the insight of a 9-year old did nothing but aggravate poor Jeffrey. Instead, Jeffrey continuously hit Peter when the pain became unbearable. Luckily their father stepped in to help with a lesson on yawning, "You have to yawn all the way. Watch me, watch me". In spite of our eagerness to learn, we held back and didn't take in the lesson.
We do need to add...having issues with pressure and your ears inflight can be quite painful. We do not wish that upon anyone. So, be sure to yawn!
