It’s a typical morning in the hotel lobby, and there I was, a first officer pilot, looking for my captain. It’s pretty rare that I fly with the same captain more than once. With the bustling crowd around me, I felt like a lost penguin in a sea of people, desperately searching for my captain, who, I might add, I did not know.

As I scanned the lobby, I couldn’t help but think of the children’s book “Are You My Mother?” by P.D. Eastman. The story featured a little bird who went around asking various animals and machines if they were its mother. Well, here I was, about to embark on my own adventure, asking random hotel guests, “Are you my captain?”

I approached a man in a suit who bore a vague resemblance to a picture I had. But, his briefcase seemed a bit too brief for a seasoned aviator. “Excuse me, are you my captain?” I inquired.

The man gave me a bewildered look and replied, “I’m not your captain. I’m just here for a business meeting.”

Undeterred, I continued my quest. I spotted a lady with aviator shades perched atop her head, and I thought, “This could be it!” I walked up to her and asked, “Are you my captain?”

She laughed and said, “Sorry, sweetheart, but I’m just a flight attendant on her day off.”

I trudged on, determined to find him. I approached a family with kids and thought, “Well, children’s books have children, right?” I leaned down to the smallest child and asked, “Are you my captain?”

The child giggled and said, “Nope, I’m not old enough to fly a plane!”

As my search continued, I couldn’t help but chuckle at the absurdity of the situation. I felt like the protagonist in a real-life comedy. At last, after several more comical encounters and awkward questions, I finally spotted him.

There, sitting at a cozy breakfast table with a steaming cup of coffee in hand and a mischievous grin on his face, was my captain. I couldn’t believe I finally found him! I rushed over and said, “Captain! There you are!”

As I settled down at the table next to him, I couldn’t help but reflect on my hilarious adventure in the hotel lobby. It might not have been a bird searching for its mother, but it sure felt like a pilot searching for his captain. And in the end, I learned that sometimes, the most unexpected encounters can lead to the most amusing stories.

So, the next time you find yourself in a busy hotel lobby, keep an eye out for lost pilots, because you never know when they might ask, “Are you my captain?”