One thousand, four hundred, and forty-four days ago (but who’s counting on all thumbs or all fingers?), I typed — with all thumbs and fingers — a post titled Day 922: Thumbs, which included a discussion of thumb-related phrases including “all thumbs,” “thumbs up,” and “thumbs down.”
Yesterday, I was all thumbs at Chicago’s O’Hare Airport, as
- I was so focused on removing liquids or semi-liquids that might be more than three ounces from my bag that I forgot to remove my laptop,
- security gave me a thumbs down and sent my bag through twice, the second time without zipping it up,
- I didn’t noticed that the bag was unzipped,
- people told me everything was falling out of my bag after I picked it up, and
- I got so flustered I dropped my laptop on my toe.
I’m glad to report that all thumbs and all toes were all okay, even if my dignity got temporarily damaged. After all that happened, I hung around the scene of the crime and said all this to myself:
See! You were trying to avoid feeling shame about doing the wrong thing by taking out those items from your bag, but you missed the obvious one! And what you feared came true: you did the security thing wrong, people got annoyed, strangers noticed your mistakes, things fell out of your bag, you were exposed, you looked like you were all thumbs (and maybe like a crazy old lady), but you know what? It doesn’t matter! You survived and you’re flying home to those you love! Hooray!
And I celebrated by grabbing, with all thumbs, the #1 Best Airport Grab-and-Go Dining in the Country (which turned my thumbs orange).
It’s time to thumb through all my photos from yesterday, when I was feeling all thumbs (but lots of heart, too). By the way, I thought “thumbs up!” when I was taking one of these pictures. Can you guess which one?
Here‘s “All Thumbs” by Mark Casstevens:
I’ll reply to all comments later (using all thumbs if I’m on my iPhone).
Thanks to all who helped me create this all-thumbs post and — of course! — to YOU, for visiting, here and now.
