Up, Up and Away!

An interesting e-mail yesterday with pictures of near mishaps and some downright miserable landings with the captions to go along with them. Flying is always and adventure and I remember everyone had the chance to fly but me, then my day finally came and it was the thrill of a lifetime floating up in the heavens above the clouds. I couldn't keep my eyes from the window as the earth patterns came into view. I doubt I said three words as I was mesmerized. I loved the feeling of power as we took off and the mystery of silence as the motor slowed for landing. It used to be a lot of fun to plot and plan a trip somewhere until it became the mess it is today with too many planes in the air, too many near misses, too many delays and the blaring over shouting at the gates when you cannot hear whether it is your flight or not. Chasing down lost luggage is always fun. I had a lady walk out of the terminal with my bag. I actually saw her going out the door and knew it was my bag and not hers. It took two days to get it back from Lake Tahoe to Carson City by way of Las Vegas and Reno. At least my luggage had fun.

The announcements were hilarious as we can equate with the words and the thoughts. A United flight attendant announced, "People, people we're not picking out furniture here, find a seat and get in it."

Another said: "There are fifty ways to leave your lover, but only four ways out of this plane." or the conversation when the pilot stands by the door to wish well after a flight and a little old lady comes up to him and asks if she can ask a question and she asks, "did we land or were we shot down?" or after a less than perfect landing the flight attendant said, "We ask you to remain seated until Captain Kangaroo bounces us to the terminal." There were a couple of statements about leaving things behind and I've done that, not intentionally, just got up and didn't check around. I had purchased a special Sees candy treat for my hostess and left the chocolates behind and hoped the attendants enjoyed them.

The last statement is funny as the attendant said, "If you wish to smoke, the smoking section on this airplane is in the wing, and if you can light 'em, you can smoke 'em." Finally a special place for the smokers. On a flight overseas I sat in the rear of the plane with my friend Gerry who was a smoker and kept a wet towel over my nose and mouth for the entire trip. I should have had more sense as it was like sitting in a gray cloud for six hours. Let us just say I never did it again.

So today, if you have to fly off somewhere, I hope you get an attendant with a sense of humor. I hope you have your own sense of humor in tact as you will most likely need it before you get to where you are going. Who knows, you might even get there the same time as your luggage, if not I hope you remembered to carry an extra change in your carry on bag. Fly high with a sense of fun and you will have a trip to remember. Hope your today is a good one. Hugs to all.