Thank you at 37,000 feet

Posted Tuesday, July 31, 2007 2:24 AM

Everyone complains that there is barely enough room in the coach class on an airplane to sleep, let alone work. You have a little more room to work in an exit row; and even more in first class.

I wasn't in first class, but I made the most of my window seat Sunday night on my way home from my shower – in four hours (and four inches) I managed to write, stuff, label and stamp 30 thank you notes.

True, you'll often find businesspeople clacking away at their laptops, but John & Jane Q Citizen tend to keep their tray tables closed for the duration of the flight (with the exception of when they are served a beverage or $3 candy bar).

The Chicago to L.A. route is neither pleasant nor fast. I would usually take advantage of late night flight to catch up on much-needed sleep. But not that flight (plus I had purchased a Starbucks that I hopes would kick in enough to keep me awake for the duration). I spent the first 20 minutes or so reading my book – since we were taking off and apparently an open tray offsets the balance on the airplane

The tray table would be paramount to finishing the notes – there was no way I was going to be able to keep everything on my lap without it falling. Since I sit in an exit row when I fly American, the trays are kept in the armrest, meaning I didn't have to worry about the person in front of shifting and turning.

I put on my iPod, grabbed my gift list and address list and started to write.

Every few I wrote I would think: one more, and then I can stop and sleep. It didn't happen, but I felt such a sense of accomplishment with each one I wrote. Considering the shower was earlier that day, I thought it must have been some sort of bridal record. Because my fiancé and I agreed we wouldn't use any gift we hadn't written a thank you note for – my late night blitz ensured that we could have access to any gift we wanted once I got home.

When I put the final stamp on the final card, I wanted to shout to the plane: "I finished!"

Of course, almost everyone was sleeping at that point and I didn't want to get my butt kicked (although the psychoanalyst behind me would have been first – he didn't stop talking into his tape recorder for four hours).

I was grateful to every person who had given us a gift earlier that day – but I was even more grateful for what I saw when we finally landed (45 minutes late, thanks a lot American Airlines): Adam, a big kiss and a bottled Frappucino.