The Plane Ride

About six months after my husband and I first started dating he was transferred out of state. We decided to try and make it work, so about once a month we would take turns visiting each other. He was about a 7 hour drive away and since he enjoyed driving, that's how he often chose to get to me. When it was my turn, however, I did not want to drive 7 hours by myself so I chose to fly instead (this was back when flights were actually affordable. Shocking, right?). From takeoff to landing was only about an hour. I did it so often, I was able to maneuver through all parts of the airport, from parking to getting through TSA to boarding, like a boss.

Fast forward a few years later. I'd moved in with my husband (then boyfriend), we'd gotten married, and we'd had our first child. When our daughter was about 6 months old we had planned on driving back home to spend the holidays with our family. As per usual when dealing with the Military, our plans changed, and it was going to be just me and our daughter for the holidays. I didn't think I could handle driving alone with her, so I opted to fly. I was still so used to it I figured, how hard could it be?

Flying with kids is a whole other level I was NOT prepared for. I pretty much threw everything she owned, from clothes to food to toys, into her diaper bag just "in case" I'd need them all for an hour flight. I won't bore you with anymore details, all I will say was the flight there and back were both pleasant, with very little drama, and very little need for most of the shit I packed.

Fast forward even further, I had flown a bunch of times solo with my daughter and once with all of us together for a family trip to Disney. Every time I've flown with just me and my daughter I've come across people who would go out of their way to help us. In line at the TSA passengers, even some TSA agents, would either help me to collapse the stroller (which had to go through the scanner), or hold my daughter so I could do it. On the plane passengers and/or flight attendants would always offer a hand with our bags if I needed it. It honestly surprised me how nice people were. I know that's horrible to say, but I've run into my fair share of assholes over the years, and I guess I'd kind of lost faith in people.

Of course, there has been the occasional flight were everything that could go wrong, did go wrong. The one that still sticks out in my mind is when my daughter and I were stuck on a plane for 2 hours. Not in flight, we were delayed on the ground, but for some reason no one was allowed off the plane. so we were basically stuck. It was okay at first, but about halfway through my daughter, who was about 18 months old at the time, started getting antsy. I let her run up and down the aisles but soon she was done with that, and I knew I needed to do something fast otherwise she would lose her shit on a plane full of people. Once again, my faith in humanity had been restored, as the elderly woman behind us flying with her grandson, offered to hold my daughter to give me a break. Her grandson was about 5 at the time and had brought books and toys with him, which he offered to share with her. This kept her occupied for the rest of our time until takeoff, and I cannot tell you how relieved I was that this woman and her grandson armed with distractions was on that flight right behind us. They were our angels that night.

Since then I've flown quite a few times. Sometimes everything goes well and other times it's a shit show. Most recently I flew home with my daughter AND son, and while that was even tougher and more stressful, I'd still do it again. Why? Because every flight I meet people willing to lend a helping hand. There are still good, decent people out there. Get out there and meet them!

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