Are you afraid of a plane crash?

  I never have been.  But I am now.

Monday afternoon a friend of mine took me to the airport for my afternoon flight from Greensboro to Atlanta to SLC for a week visit with my sister's family while Ben is out of town. As I got out of the car she said, "Call me if anything happens and I will come back and pick you up- no problem!" OK. I thought. Nothing will go wrong, but I appreciate your offer. 

After a struggle to get my boarding pass and make it to the gate, we boarded our flight with no problems. I was sitting in the back of the small plane, and was actually annoyed when a pedantic flight attendant insisted on making notes on all passengers who switched seats, double checked that all were wearing seat belts, and asked me to push my purse even farther below the seat in front of me.  I asked my neighbor what the time was, as I was getting concerned about making my connection in ATL.

As soon as we took off a terrible noise accompanied us. It was a rotary-style thumping, like when you drive on a flat tire, with the ebb and flow of varying gas pressure.  It felt rocky, sounded terrible, and sparked fear in all.  I had a window seat and kept looking outside; I was waiting to see the ground coming closer and closer.

There was no doubt in my mind that our plane would be crashing.  My neighbor looked at me and said, "I think you're going to miss your connection." and I thought how ironic it was that I was frustrated with the flight attendant earlier.  Now I was grateful he'd taken such precautions.

I was concerned, of course, just waiting for the moment that the plane would start to spiral, but eerily calm to know I was going to die.

My first thought was that dying was ok, because it would mean I'd get to be with my angel, Eleanor.  Had Baby Boy developed enough to meet us in heaven, too? Oh wow, I could be raising two children at the same in heaven... I do want twins, but not alone! What would I do without Ben? What would he do without me? Without us? He is in China... How and when will he be notified? He'll  hate that he was out-of-town. I'm so glad I told Ben I love him. At least I didn't bring anything valuable with me.  I have my new phone, a library book, and the latest sonogram images.  Oh why did I bring all the pictures? Ben will want one! And he won't know I rented a library book.  I hope they aren't mean about collecting fines with him. 

Luckily they recognized a mechanical issue and turned right back around to Greensboro within a few minutes, so we were left unharmed :) All departing flights were already filled for that afternoon, so mine was rescheduled for the following day. As compensation I was given a night at the Marriot and 4 meal vouchers (good at the airport or hotel.)

It turned into a pretty luxurious night! I have to say it felt pretty indulgent to get free food and hotel stay in my own city!

I got checked in just in time to watch Ellen :)

I used a meal voucher for chocolate cake... YUM!

My 7:00 am flight the next morning also had mechanical issues...just my luck... but it was

handled in about 1.5 hours so we were able to leave and I had just enough time to 

run for my connecting flight: )

I have always loved looking out of plane windows, and was just mesmerized this time

by these beautiful clouds. I felt very close to Eleanor, as if she were sitting on one of them :)

Just to end the suspense, I did make it safely to Utah on Tuesday afternoon.  My niece, Cat, said it wasn't fair that they'd missed a day with me, but so far we are having lots of fun!