Little Reminders - Be Thankful

I just finished reading a post on Lisa's blog. It seems Taylor had a rather disturbing flight recently. Reading about it I was thrown back in time.

It was June 2000. Traci, Patti, Kristy and I had been in Florida on a vacation. We took off from Ft. Lauderdale to fly home. And it became the flight from Hell. First, we should have been flying west, but had to go east 50 miles out over the ocean to avoid a weather front. After making the turn we ran into the storm and watched lightning bounce around outside the plane. Turbulence was awful. But the worst was yet to come. Somewhere over the Midwest I noticed my ears were popping. Suddenly we could hear "losing cabin pressure" from the cockpit, then nothing. We continued to drop and then the oxygen masks came down. We were told to put them on. Then we were told that we would be diverted due to a loss in cabin pressure. There were two options: One go to Billings, MT, land and wait for repairs, or Two, land in Denver. Luckily, we went to Denver.

The landing was fairly smooth, but a scary site. Since it was an emergency landing, the runway was lined with emergency vehicles. We came to a stop and then had to wait while an EMT came on and asked everyone if they had any pain, illness, etc. Finally, we pulled up to the gate and disembarked. It was so late the Denver airport was practically deserted. We had to wait for another plane to land, then for it to be serviced before we could take off again. It was a very, very trying day.

People reacted to this situation very differently. My sister had to be coaxed onto the plane for our flight to Portland. The family sitting behind us had spent the flight saying the rosary and crossing themselves. Other cried. And I'm sure most prayed. I don't really remember what I did. I tried to stay calm, because there was nothing I could do.

The lesson I got that night was to remember to be thankful for the little things. Life can change or end in an instant. Be thankful.