The Final Chapter

I am dropped off at O'Hare International Airport at 2:30pm. My flight is scheduled to depart at 4:50pm. The lines are long but this time I have plenty of time and I am feeling relaxed and relieved to have the meeting behind me.

I arrive at the gate and settle in to read my book but before I open the cover I hear the announcement. My flight is delayed.

Seven hours later I am boarding the plane for the flight home. I am a broken down human being and exhausted does not begin to describe how I feel. I take my seat and plug my ears with soothing music from my iPod. Earlier that day I made a great investment on a seat upgrade so I was near the front of the plane, in a window seat and I had tons of leg room. I look around and thankfully do not see a child in sight. A very nice older couple was sitting beside me, they are from Hawaii and in Chicago on business but before they head home they are visiting Las Vegas. I am finally on my way home.

The first three hours of the flight were uneventful. The Devil Wears Prada was the in-flight movie and although I've seen it it was a good movie to see again. I was even able to sleep a little.

Approximately 45 minutes outside of Las Vegas the captain gets on the intercom and informs us there are very bad storms just outside of Las Vegas and in the Las Vegas limits. He calmly asks the flight attendants to take their seats and we are told that as far as our trash, raising our tray tables and putting our seat backs in the upright position it was going to be on the honor system. The flight attendants will have to remain seated for the remainder of the flight and that is when it all began to happen.

At first a shudder and a slight dip. The rain started hitting the window. I look outside and it doesn't look like rain at all it looks like snow. The first lightening crack missed the plane but it was close. Then hail started hitting the window. As I looked outside I could not see a star in the sky nor a light on the ground. What an odd feeling. I knew we had to be passing over the Sierra Nevadas and I said a small prayer that we would not hit them. Then a bright blinding light and a deafening crack! Lightening hit the plane. One of the flight attendants gets on the intercom and explains to us that lightening hits planes all the time and they are built to withstand it and asks everyone to remain calm. That announcement did anything but make us calm. The distress in the flight attendant's voice was more than evident.

The plane dips again but this time much more violently. People are now crying and some are starting to scream. At this point there is no comfort offered from the flight crew, only silence. We are now in a free fall nose first and the luggage is falling from the bins above. The sweet older woman beside me has a death grip on my wrist and is yelling, "Oh Jesus, Oh Jesus, Oh Jesus."

I was faced with the raw reality of deaths possibility...

I was scared at first. I allowed myself to get caught up in the emotions of my fellow passengers. I was listening to classical music so I turned it up to tune out the utter craziness of it all. My first thought; I hope my friend at work remembers she still has a key to my apartment so she can get my cats. Then I thought about my family and my faith, I took a deep breath and thought, I hope this doesn't hurt.

A calm feeling began to wash over me. I've never felt so at peace. I knew in that moment of peace I was Ok with dying but had an intense feeling it probably wasn't going to happen today.

I am jolted back to reality when the plane suddenly grabs hold of the air and the feeling of weightlessness is now replaced with the feeling of G-forces weighing my body down. The plane is still shuddering uncontrollably it seemed impossible that it was going to hold together. For ten more minutes the terror continued and then I saw a twinkle on the horizon. Las Vegas.

We land and the plane erupts in clapping and cheers. Many are in tears. The airline briefly talks to us about post traumatic stress disorder and it's effects and offers counseling services. I decline and head on my way.

It is 12:45am Saturday morning. I am getting in my car that is parked in the last space of the furthest airport parking lot and I begin to laugh.

Did the last 24 hours really just happen?