“YOU TURNED MY EIGHT-HUNDRED-DOLLAR HAIR INTO A KINDERGARTEN CRAFT PROJECT!”

That was what a furious young woman shouted at me in the middle of a crowded airplane, thirty-five thousand feet above the ground. Her expensive blonde extensions were tangled with pink-and-purple glitter slime, one hand was covered in sticky strands, and dozens of passengers were staring in disbelief.

I’m Martha Delaney, a seventy-three-year-old widow, retired school librarian, and grandmother of four. I’d boarded that flight hoping to enjoy a peaceful visit with my family. Instead, I somehow became the center of an airplane drama that would eventually attract hundreds of thousands of views online.