With our team at work spanning from the north east to the west
coast and all places in between, the days are much more likely to consist of
multiple conference calls than in person meetings. This inevitably leads to the number of
meeting delays as we wait for team members to join the call. During these lulls in productivity our team
members get to know each other and discuss critical subjects such as the
importance of using a Wild Draw 4 card to teach kids a valuable crushing lesson
when playing Uno. The start of
conference calls has become the virtual water cooler if you will. It was
during these times that the team became aware that Esther has a tremendous fear
of flying. Here is the rest of the story.
It was late spring in Lubbock Texas and Esther was taking another
flying lesson. She had progressed to the
‘without instruments’ training stage. The
problem with this particular lesson is the speed with which spring storms come
roaring across the open plains of west Texas.
It got rough fast. Very fast. The little Cessna was now bouncing around with
only the language between the flight instructor and Esther being rougher than
the air pockets they were flying through.
Coming in for the approach, the wings swinging wildly due to the cross
winds, the instructor gave the ever encouraging, “I’m not sure we are going to
get out of this one.” Well the plane
did touch down, and touch down safely, but not without ripping the desire to be
a Naval Aviator from Esther’s dreams. From
that stormy spring day in 1998 to 2015, Esther would only fly one more time,
but plenty of drinks, tears and a death grip on lucky charms (not the cereal) got
her through that honeymoon flight. From
that time forward if she couldn’t drive to the location she didn’t go. Our team knew of this fear and was now aware
that Esther had summoned up the courage to brave flying with her
daughters. Little did we know the conference
call story this would lead to.
This past July brought a series of events that then changed Esther’s
travel experiences. Joe, Esther’s
husband, was selected for a month’s worth of training for work. The kicker is the training was across the
continent in Boston. After weeks apart,
Esther pushed aside her fear and decided to take herself and her two girls to
see Joe and site see on the east coast.
It was a morning full of trepidation and nervousness when her parents
dropped her and the girls off at the Oakland airport. They understood how big of a moment this was
for Esther getting over her fear as well as their granddaughters first flight. Well that is when it
all started. Her parents stood smiling and waving
goodbye, proud of Esther and the girls for facing their travel fears, as they
snaked their way through the TSA line. Little
did they know what they would soon witness in security line 3.
“Mom, I don’t feel good.”
“You are just nervous, it will all be good.”
“Mom, I don’t feel good.”
“Don’t worry, it will be fine.”
It was right about the word ‘fine’ when the projectile
vomiting began. All over Esther. Splattering on the floor. Down the front of one daughter. Across the carry-on luggage. More on
the floor. It is hard to imagine that a
nine year old’s stomach could hold so much?
As Esther tells it, “the vomiting just didn’t stop!” Now pushing past horrified travelers to grab
the next available grey bin to act as the sickness basin, they all learned the
sound of thick liquid hitting against the TSA bin is something no one will soon
forget.
So there they are, at the very beginning of a cross country
adventure using a discount roll of paper towels, supplied by the TSA leader at arm’s
length, to wipe down their clothes and belongings as much as possible. Bunches of damp paper towel filling the
rest of the security bin.
If there is a benefit to vomiting in the TSA line, it is
they are very reluctant to give you a pat down screening following that
activity. Well, after living through the
Cybil inspired security experience, there was nothing to the rest of the 5 hour
flight to worry about. It provided a
much needed distraction to the collection of 17 years of built up flying fears. The three of them made their way across the
country and loved the east coast and seeing Joe for the first time in
weeks. Fortunately for them, the return trip was
minus the same upset tummy dramatics.
While our team expected some story to come out of the flight
of fear trip, we couldn’t believe the path this adventure had gone down. I think most of us could put ourselves in the
soggy shoes of the ‘child sick at the worst time/location’ experience. Parenthood making the story more painfully
funny for many of us on the conference call team.
Clean up, line 3!
