I hate to fly. More accurately… well there really is no more accurately. I hate every aspect of flying, with the possible exception of landing, which is the sign that it’s all over and I can finally breathe again. But the part most traumatic is take-off. Without exception, I always get upset during this part.

But I will say this weekend’s flights were the best so far. I contribute this a bit to Vicodan. Granted, I was prescribed this for my back, but it does a great job of relaxing my mind, and since that’s what I needed, I took one before my flight to Denver.

But the main reason the flight went so well is because of another person.

I just want to send a big thank you to that kind old man and his lovely wife. As the plane began to take off, he turned to me and started asking me a few questions about myself. With a shaky voice, I told him about me and husband and how Jeremy is in Iraq and what we do in the military. By the time I was done, we were in the air. I knew what he was doing, but it was so amazing of him to help out a stranger like that.

It always amazes me the kindness of people. Every time I fly, I get really nervous. In the past three years, I’ve flown so many times I really should join a frequent flyer program. At least then I could get some free upgrades and travel in comfort.

But in the past three years, I’ve had very few unpleasant flights. I’ve always been quite lucky when it comes to seatmates. There are a few that are very memorable, though. I never get their names, but for that hour or four, these people made quite an impact on my in a way I’ll never forget.

On a flight from San Diego to Denver (I was returning to Kansas after spending a long weekend with Jeremy), I sat next to a student from the military academy in Colorado. We were experiences so much turbulence the pilot asked the flight attendants to sit down. This caused me to freak out pretty bad. My seatmate, it turns out, had his pilot’s license. Trying to calm me down a little, he started to tell me all about what causes turbulence and what pilots do during it.

Flying from San Diego to Albuquerque (after another weekend with Jeremy), I sat next to another very nice man. I spent most of the flight doing alright, until the captain made an announcement that we would be feeling a lot of turbulence during descent. Well, I’m not fine with turbulence in any situation, but on take-off and descent, I really hate it. This time, I also got another lesson on turbulence, but also discovered that Albuquerque has a freaky weather pattern over the city, so turbulence is not uncommon there.

And by far the best ever, my own darling husband, the one trip we were able to fly together on. The man who held my hand and joked with me and talked to me and made it the best trip ever. Someday I’ll have the chance to fly with him again.

Only once have I had a truly awful take-off experience, but that isn’t what this post is about. Just take it from me and stay away from Southwest. And this has nothing to do with the plane, only with the staff.

All in all, I’ve been lucky so far. One day, I’ll finally be a good flier and I’ll have the opportunity to calm some other poor soul. Either that or I’ll finally be rich and have my own plane or work for a company with a company plane and I’ll be so comfortable I won’t care about take-off.