Wednesday, December 10, 2008

Conquering a fear...and enjoying it!

This past weekend, our cubbies had a chance to do something VERY exciting. While enjoying spending some time with another local pack, our boys got to ride in an airplane! In regards to our family, with Walter being the only one of us who has ever been on a plane, it was definitely something new and exciting for us!

Leading up to the weekend, I was honestly hoping that we would get a torrential downpour of rain, thus leading to the cancellation of "Scouts in Flight." Why, might you ask? Well...I'm a worry-er. And I don't mean just a little. I mean big time, bleeding ulcer, nightmare having kind of worrying. Yeah, I'm sure there is some sort of clinical, mental illness type of name for it, but I'll go with "worry-er."

I was terrified that my oldest was going to go up in an airplane for the first time. I figured it was a small plane, like a Cessna, but I didn't know just how small. On the way to the airfield, as I was lamenting the fact that Bails was going airborne, Tracy calls me to tell me that they were going to let siblings go. This matters because we spent a week trying to explain to Braed that he couldn't go. It was a big-brother only kinda thing. If any of you have ever tried to explain to my youngest that he couldn't do something, then you completely understand the drug inducing state this put me in.

Anyway..so now they both were going to get a chance to go. But in my mind, they weren't going to go at the same time. I couldn't risk losing them both at once. Yes...that is unfortunately the frame of mind I was in. I'm a luna...ahem...worry-er, remember??

We finally pull up to the field and the excitement coming from the boys was unreal! As soon as we got there, everyone was ready for a group picture of all the boys with the plane.

As I walk away, taking Teagan (our new doggy that we adopted) to the porch of the hangar, I turn around and see Tracy and Walter shuffling my boys and ZRB onto the plane.

Imagine the "WTF???!!!" moment that I had.

Yeah.

But...trying to be "not-crazy" for a moment, I thought I would be alright. I watched them shut the door and turn around to go down the runway. As I watched the little 4-seater plane slow down towards the end of the runway, I was almost jumping for joy. In my feeble mind, the plane was slowing which meant it wasn't about to take off.

Again...I did say in my FEEBLE mind. As it turns out, and everyone BUT me knew this, it was slowing because it was turning around to come back up the runway for take off. As the plane started back up the runway, I felt my breathing start to pick up and my hands start to shake. Then I see this:



In my "SWEET JESUS, SOMEBODY GET ME A DRINK" moment, I managed to do the one thing that any mature, responsible adult would do. I called Daddy. Hey...there is no shame in my game. When I need my Daddy, I call. :o)

He managed to talk me out of a full blown panic attack and he stayed on the phone with me until the boys landed, about 15-20 minutes.

Now I have to say, I didn't think that there would be anything sweeter than seeing that plane land safely on the ground. Well, I was wrong. The smiles that were on the faces of those 3 boys, made all of the panic and worry SO worth it!!! The boys were ecstatic about their flight!





The boys had a lot to say about their trip and it was so wonderful to see all of them so animated! We waited around with our mirror family, the B's, thinking that we were going to a small town Christmas parade together after all the kids were done flying. Then Tracy comes up to me and says "we're going up." I was terrified and excited about it, at the same time.

Even though I had a little time to process and think about it, (or change my mind about it, as I'm sure that's what Walter thought I was going to do) I surprised myself and everyone else by climbing aboard when it was our turn.



Can't you just feel my glee??

Yeah. Me too.

I was pleasantly surprised and really, really enjoyed my flight!! I wish that I could put into words how it felt to look down on that little town and see everything from above. It was a truly amazing experience and I am so thankful that I got to do something like that! Thanks Tracy! ;-)

After Tracy and I landed, it was Walter and Scott's turn. Walter had a great time and was very excited because he has flown in a Cessna before and knew what to expect. He got some great aerial photos of the town...one in particular that I really loved was the picture of one of the many rock quarries in the area.











































It was such a great day. We didn't make it to that parade, but we weren't upset about that. We went back to the B's house and a had a great afternoon and evening watching some TV and a movie, playing some RockBand and enjoying a pizza dinner.








On one final note, and I know this was long post...thank you for staying with me, lol...for those of you that haven't had a chance to meet our newest addition, here is Teagan. She's a lovely, albeit noisy, little girl that we adopted from the Humane Society. They had rescued her from an abusive home and we are thrilled that we are able to welcome her to our family!! :o)

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