Happy Ending... Really...

Dear Friends;

Usually I LOVE to fly… I still do. But… I managed to survive the worst flight experience I have ever had. The air was turned off on a fully packed flight. It was stuffy and cramped and way too early. (It was the first flight out of the airport in the morning.) There was waaay too much turbulence…

As I sat there with the other cramped individuals sucking in air that was too hot and too sparse waiting on the runway for the winds to die down enough so that it was safe enough to take off, I started to feel queasy and the lack of sleep over the past day and a half started to get to me. Rivulets of sweat started to pour down various body parts. And unfortunately, I was not alone in my misery. Everywhere I looked, people were uncomfortably shifting and attempting to adjust their clothes.

Finally, we took off. The plane swayed this way and that, fighting the pilot every second of the ascent into the wild blue. And as the very first flight out of the airport that morning, I really do mean wild blue. (A great name for a car, not for a condition of the sky when flying.) We bumped merrily along, if groans and moans can be merry, and finally they put on the lights and air.

Gulping long deep breaths and instantly feeling better, I was able to joke to my new seatmates. (I had changed from the isle to the center seat a few rows up so that a pair of teenage girls could sit together. I hate the center, but I was rewarded by a guy with a great sense of humor that kept those about us laughing with our little quips… Love that Karma thing…)

And then the plane dropped. And lurched. And the lights went out. And off went the air… Hot plane, cramped plane, bumpety, bumpety, bump plane. Lean to the left, lean to the right… Lurching, lurching, fight, fight, fight…

I have never suffered from airsickness… Until now… I survived, but I needed several hours to get my land legs back. And that would be the payback for all the times that I went “WEEEEEEEEEEEEE- Do it AGAIN!!!!” while everyone else on the plane is praying for land…

Maybe it was the lack of sleep. Maybe it was the lack of cool air. Maybe it was the lack of food. (I did forget breakfast.) Maybe it was just the odds finally evening out… Regardless… I was likely the most grateful person in the cramped cabin that the plane finally landed. It took hours for that to wear off…

Really what it took was love… Lots and lots of love from very small children. Four of them. Throwing themselves down the stairs and into my arms. Well… Three of them did. The youngest is only five months old. But I could tell by the giggles that she was trying to do it. And she did lurch out of the arms that were holding her.

The healing powers of love are remarkable… So is a nap… And as my Nephew keeps exclaiming… TWO WHOLE WEEKS Aunt LaLa! You get to stay for two WHOLE weeks!!

I would fly again and again just for that…