Happy landing.

I usually love fetching people from the airport. It doesn’t even matter who I fetch and that’s because just to stand in the arrivals hall makes me happy. My romantic heart can come out and play. You will never see a grumpy face, but lovers reunited, family gatherings, and even the people who just have a taxi driver waiting for them, are happy because they are finally off the plane. It’s happiness all around.

Last Sunday though it got a bit much and even my romantic heart turned cynic. First a lady, who was waiting, filmed another lady coming out. That one was screaming and shouting and waving her arms. I guess it made for a really good picture in her mind, though everyone around seemed a little embarrassed on their behalf. It got worse. Now another lady with her boyfriend/husband/whatever got out, started crying and hugging a probably long lost sister or something dramatic to that degree. The boyfriend/husband/whatever stood next to them and started to take pictures of the two. From all angles. I mean come on, they just got off a plane and the first thing he needs to document in Cape Town is that? Really?
I was barely done rolling my eyes, when I spotted my friend Nele and I hopped and skipped towards her. I was promptly ‘punished’ for my eye rolling, because when she saw me, she stopped dead, pulled a face and ... started crying.
Though to my surprise I realized – there was nothing embarrassing about it. I just wished I had had my camera to take a picture of her. Because in the end, cheesy or not, it’s the arrivals hall and people just cry sometimes after a happy landing, just happy to have finally arrived.