<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/booleansplit/" target="_blank"><img class="size-medium wp-image-7978 alignleft" title="plane" src="http://www.diaryofalatebloomer.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/plane-300x255.jpg" alt="" width="300" height="255" /></a>I thanked heaven for small miracles on Day 359.

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Since what we put out into the universe expands, the small miracles continued on Day 360.  And when you are sardined into a plane on a transatlantic flight (KLM makes Southwest feel like a luxury liner!), small miracles seem monumental.

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<strong><a href="http://www.diaryofalatebloomer.com/2011/10/17/day-359-when-in-rome-eat-french-fries-with-mayo/" target="_blank">You already heard me drone on about my physical state on Day 359. </a></strong> Too much wine and too little sleep took its toll.  What I needed was a night of hibernation.  What I received was a 2:30 a.m. wake up call for a red-eye flight.  Fantastic.

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<strong><span style="font-size: medium; color: #800080;">Small Miracle #1: </span></strong> I don't sleep on planes.  Ever.  Except for Day 360 when I blessedly slept for the entire 2.5 hour Alitalia flight to Amsterdam.

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On the flight to Italy 11 days earlier, I didn't sleep a wink.  Because a KLM plane is a sardine can with wings, I partially shared my seat with the woman next to me.  Fun times!  On the return flight home . . .

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<span style="font-size: medium; color: #800080;"><strong>Small Miracle #2: </strong></span> I once again sat in the aisle seat next to AN EMPTY MIDDLE SEAT!!!  When they secured the plane for takeoff, and I realized that no one would spill into my space, I thought I heard angels singing.  Although I may have been hallucinating from sleep deprivation.  I slept another 2 hours.

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Until a toddler's blood-curdling screams penetrated my ear plugs and jolted me back to my sardine reality.  His mother's hacking cough EVERY FIVE MINUTES was far worse.  I wanted to ask her if she ever heard of a miraculous concoction called "cough medicine", but I refrained.  Instead I chose to focus on puppy dogs, rainbows, and an empty middle seat next to me.  I sprawled my leg into the middle seat space <em>just because I could.</em>

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<strong>Small Miracle #3:</strong>  Since my earplugs were not a match for the Public Health Enemy #1 and her child, I needed an alternative noise-cancellation method.  I perused the movies on KLM's nifty personal entertainment system.  I paused when I came across the Italian movie <strong><em><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1332486/" target="_blank">Baciami Ancora</a></em></strong> (<em>Kiss Me Again</em>).  I really like the thought of an Italian man kissing me again.  So I pumped up the volume and cinematically escaped back to Italy.  Sigh . . . .

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<span style="font-size: medium; color: #800080;"><strong>Small Miracle #4:</strong></span>  Arriving in my hub city of Houston, I was swooped up by Mom and Dad who whisked me away to the nearest <strong><a href="http://pappasitos.com/home/" target="_blank">Pappasito's</a></strong>.  Because this girl was STILL craving some serious Tex-Mex.  God Bless America!

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