Planes don't crash, right? RIGHT!?
Monday began in Rochester, New York. After two days there for a wedding, it was time to go home. My plane was scheduled to leave around 7pm and get into Chicago around 11. There was a plane change in Baltimore.
Around Noon, word began to filter down that flights to Chicago were being cancelled because of the weather. Not mine. The one thing I didn't want to happen was to get to Baltimore, have the flight cancelled , and spend the night in the airport, The hotel AND SPA in Rochester was a lot nicer...a lot!
I kept checking with Southwest Airlines...all good. Time to go home.
Rochester to Baltimore is uneventful. Baltimore to Chicago...OY! Sigh! Fuck! OMG!!
I'm not a good flyer. I didn't get on my first plane until I was 18 years old. Scared shitless. I've been known to freak out about a flight weeks in advance.
I seem to be better now. I'm good at staying calm because I know this one thing....planes don't crash. You have a better chance of dying driving to the airport than in a plane accident. It's true...keep telling yourself this...planes don't crash.
The flight started out fine. No problems. That's how we like it. At about 10ish, life as we know it began to change.
We hit a little turbulence. No problem, happens regularly. It'll stop soon. Twenty minutes later it was still going on....and getting stronger.
I took a look around the plane and people were scared. The turbulence was getting worse. ...much worse. But always remember this...planes don't crash! Plus, there were no rock stars on the plane so I'm thinking we should be good.
I looked out the windows and the sky was a freaky yellowish color. Lightning lit up the sky. I didn't know it until later but tornadoes were in the area and doing major damage. We were flying near them. The plane was bouncing all over. Good thing we had seat belts. No biggie because planes don't crash!
I took another look around the plane. People were holding hands. My seatmate was holding on to the armrest like she was Ritchie Valens getting ready to die. She started praying. I guess she was holding hands with God.
I started thinking what if this plane does go down? What would my family think? Do they know I still want to be be cremated (they do now)? Who would speak at my funeral? Would someone write a memorial blog for me?
We finally get to Chicago and here comes Midway Airport. We're rounding third and heading for home. Looks like we're gonna make it! Well, of course we did since I'm writing this.
When the plane landed, there was applause like in the movie Airport after Dean Martin saved everyone. I looked out the window and there was more good news....George Kennedy wasn't there to put out any fires. No real firemen either. Phew! We were safe. Like I said earlier...planes don't crash!
I grabbed my bags, got the Hell out of the airport and jumped on an Orange Line train to head home.
Hmmm....Orange Line at Midnight? Sigh! Hold hands and say some prayers. I'm not as sure about this one.
I don't fly often but when I do it seems to be an adventure. I tried to fly one Spirit Airlines one time...yeah, one time.
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