I am so not cut out for travel with pets

Jasper and I flew home from Salt Lake this evening, and Oh.My.God was I ever a wreck. See, Jasper is just a little too big to fit in a carrier that I can bring in the cabin with me, so he had to fly in the baggage area. That meant that I had to fill out umpteen forms with my name, address, and phone number just in case they lost him (but don't worry Ma'am, that hardly ever happens!) and then had to leave him with the baggage screeners after they patted him down for...something. Drugs, maybe? In case I'd taped them to his body? I really don't know why they had to pat him down.

Regardless, I was a basket case from the second I put him back in his crate and handed him over to the airline in Salt Lake to the second before a baggage handler brought him out to me when we landed. I read one and a half pages of my book during the 90 minute flight, and spent the rest of the time staring into space and obsessing over whether or not he was scared or cold or feeling abandoned. It was horrible.

Naturally, Jasper is acting like he's already forgotten the whole ordeal. As soon as we got home, he waltzed out of his crate and hopped on the couch just like it had been a regular day. I'm glad that he's not too traumatized by the airplane experience, but I sure am. No more flying with pets. Not for a long, long time at least.

In other news, it's T-minus 12 hours until my next interview with the school, and I'm getting very excited. This could be the start of a very, very big week!