Fisher-Price Planes
I had quite a day yesterday.
My daughter’s youth group left on a trip Tuesday morning. It was a long 12-hour drive. Unfortunately, the timing of the trip conflicted with her dance recital. Because of this, she stayed home until her dance commitments ended.
At first, I suggested driving her after the recital to meet up with the rest of the youth. But as the day approached, my enthusiasm waned. I didn’t think I could drive 12 hours, starting at 9 pm.
I bought flights for Julie and me.
The first leg of our trip was early, but seamless. We arrived in Chicago at 7:30 am. The next leg would take us to Quincy, Illinois. It is a small, regional airport, but I wasn’t worried. I grew up next to one of those, and although the planes were smaller, they were still jets.
I wasn’t prepared for what came next.
At 8:20, I got a phone call from the airline with instructions to come check-in at the gate. We were going to leave early! Yahoo!
Well, that didn’t happen. Instead, our flight departure kept moving later and later. I went to the desk again and was told they had to board two planes ahead of us. It wasn’t looking good.
Finally, about 90 minutes after our scheduled departure, they called all of us going to Quincy to the gate to line up.
There were four of us. FOUR.
I got nervous. They asked us all what we weighed. Something felt off to me. What does it matter what I weigh?
We followed the employee down the ramp and onto the tarmac. I couldn’t believe my eyes. The airplane looked smaller than my car. Seriously. I wondered if this is how my life would end?
I was going to fly in a Fisher-Price airplane. I doubted its ability to fly us anywhere. We were told exactly where to sit. The first man sat up front. Julie was alone in her row, and when I say row…I mean she was on the left seat and the right seat was empty. They had me sit behind Julie right next to a grown man—our weights balanced on each side? The final passenger sat behind us.
I think I was offended. Or maybe he should have been? Either way, our seats were assigned and the weight was distributed. Sigh.
“This trip usually takes an hour and 45 minutes. There are really strong headwinds today, so who knows how long it will take.”
That’s what our pilot decided to say to four nervous passengers. Thanks, pal.
He started the engine and it was the loudest thing I’ve ever heard. The plane started moving. As the wind blew, our plane moved from side to side on the runway. It was scary. But then…up in the sky we went. I couldn’t believe it. The Fisher-Price airplane was in the air.
It was not a smooth ride. I don’t know how to describe something worse than turbulence, but this definitely was worse. It was like an airplane washing machine. I could see the pilots and their controls from my seat. For a large portion of the flight, all you could see was white. Rain pelted the windows. There was no flight attendant, no drinks, no snacks, no entertainment, and no bathrooms. Just me and my thoughts.
After what seemed like an eternity, we descended. The landing was as rough as the takeoff. But I was ALIVE! Hooray for living!
Julie and I got the rental car and drove the hour to her drop-off location. Because of our delayed flight, the window I had to get her there and back to the airport was very small.
I hurried as much as possible and the rental company shuttled me back to the Quincy airport. I had 10 minutes!
Denied.
They wouldn’t let me on the plane. What?! Please! The man insisted they closed boarding 30 minutes before takeoff. For this “jumbo-jet?” C’mon!
I was the only person there, had no luggage, and could see my Fisher-Price plane out the window! He refused. He told me to call the airline. I did. No one answered. So I sat in the airport for 10 minutes, then listened to that rinky-dink engine start and watched my flight leave without me.
I called the car rental place back and told them my predicament. I asked for a car to rent so I could drive to St. Louis and hopefully make my connecting flight back home. They had no cars for me.
This is where the miracles started to pile up:
Enterprise Car Rental let me rent the same car as a one-way rental. Their location isn’t allowed to do that (Quincy, IL isn’t exactly a destination location), but they did it for me anyway because they wanted me to get home.
Enterprise also told me to not worry about filling up with gas because they knew time was short. They told me to drop off the car and make my flight!
The Enterprise shuttle was waiting at the drop off in St. Louis, and drove to the airport as soon as I got on.
I sprinted through the airport to my gate and made it onto the plane just in time. I was the last person on. If you know how much I loathe running, you understand what a miracle my sprinting was😜
I learned some things, or at least was reminded of things I already know. The first is how powerful our thoughts are. My Fisher-Price flight was terrifying. I white-knuckled my way through it. The pilots, however, were just as calm as could be. At times, they even looked bored?! We were on the same plane but having a very different experience. How is this possible?It’s our thoughts. It’s always our thoughts.
The other thing I learned (again) is that we choose how we interact with people. All the employees at Enterprise were kind and helpful. They hustled because they knew I was in a hurry. They made exceptions to help me. I was thanking them before I left for St. Louis, and they said I was such a nice customer. They told me many customers are rude and demanding. It was a good reminder for me—we choose how we act and how we treat others, no matter what is happening or how little time we have.
