The Best Things in Life are Free...Even When They're Terrible

A couple of weekends ago, Tiffany and I flew to Miami to see my brother and his wife. We had an awesome time.

On the way back, one of our flight attendants struck up a conversation with Tiffany and obviously took a liking to her. After we reached cruising altitude, he came by my aisle seat and asked if we wanted a free movie. I was working on my computer. Tiffany was sleeping in the middle seat.

"No thanks," I said.

Tiffany woke up at my voice.

"What did he want?" she asked.

"To know if we wanted a free movie."

"And?"

"I said no."

"What??"

I replayed the conversation in my head and considered the five hours and 45 minutes of flying time remaining.

"Huh," I said. "Yeah, I guess that was dumb."

Sometimes when I go to conferences, I take one can of soda to drink immediately and tuck another one away for later. I have on many occasions stuffed napkin-wrapped muffins in my bag for future hunger pangs (more on this type of probably diagnosable behavior here). But when someone offers me something for free, I am always too embarrased to say yes and without fail say no instead.

A couple of months ago, we went for brunch with some of my family to a place that offered complimentary champagne. I put my glass upside down.

"Rebecca," my best friend's mom said, giving me a look.

"Oh!" I said. "Excuse me, sir? On second thought, I will take a glass!"

Later, when the waiter returned, saw my empty flute and asked if I wanted another, I said:

"No thanks, I'm all set."

Someone stepped on my toe.

"Actually, I am still thirsty," I said, my cheeks burning. "If you don't mind."

On the plane, Tiffany corrected my mistake, stepping over me to chase the flight attendant down. We killed two hours watching a movie we never would have paid for, and it was the best bad movie ever.