No Holding Back

Living With Purpose

A Lifechanging Moment

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“My ears keep popping. Are yours bothering you?” I asked my little sister, who was seated in the aisle seat of our row on the plane.

“Yes, mine keep popping too. It’s a little…” she was unable to finish her sentence before the plane started plummeting. The oxygen masks dropped from the overhead compartment. We looked at each other, dumbfounded.

That’s not supposed to happen.

Despite watching the stewardesses go through their spiel hundreds of times, I had no idea what to do. I was frozen, staring at the mask hanging in my face.

I was jolted from my stupor by the flight attendant as she ran from the back to the front of the plane screaming “Put on your oxygen masks! Put them ON NOW!”

Suddenly images flashed in my mind.

Pull the mask towards your face. Cup over nose. Elastic over the head. Tighten elastic. Tug plastic line to ensure oxygen is flowing.

Breathe.

Breathe.

Breathe slower! I was nearly hyperventilating.

I looked out the window. I saw no smoke. No sign of fire or explosion.

But the plane was still descending rapidly. The ground was getting closer.

I felt a tear slide down my cheek.

My sister Gayle grabbed my hand and held it in hers. I looked at her and saw her own fears mirrored in her eyes.

At least if I was going to die today, I was holding on to my best friend, and I would not have to face death alone.

The plane was eerily quiet with the exception of the sounds of the flight attendant running back and forth.

No one screamed as they do in the movies. I could not bring myself to utter a sound.

I prayed. About random things.

I prayed that my older sister would be able to find where we left her car in the Charleston Airport parking lot.

I prayed that Gayle’s fiance would find another love and not spend his life alone.

I wondered if it would hurt.

I worried about my father, who would likely already be on his way to Omaha to pick us up.

Finally, what seemed like hours later, the plane began to level out and the Captain addressed all of the passengers.

He informed us that there had been a mechanical issue, the plane had depressurized, and as a result, it had been necessary to bring the plane down quickly from over 30,000 feet to under 15,000 feet.  We would be landing shortly at the nearest airport.

That information would have been useful about 3 stressful minutes earlier.

I realized I was still breathing fast and heavily into the oxygen mask. I was lightheaded once we were able to remove them.

Suddenly I burst into uncontrollable laughter. I looked at my sister, and she started laughing too. As did the people in the seats all around us. We began to share our stories of fear and panic, immediately bonded by our “near death” experience.

We laughed about the fact that not a soul on the plane even moved when the masks dropped.

We laughed about the hysterical flight attendant.

We shared the ridiculous thoughts that entered our minds in the moments we thought we were going to crash.

But mostly we laughed out of relief. We were going to live.

I was given a gift that day. In a three minute time frame, I learned the value of life.

 

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Comments

  2. Oh my gosh. My heart was pounding through this one. Clearly I knew your survived, BUT….that must have been awful and scaring and life changing for sure.
    Ilene recently posted…The B SidesMy Profile

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  3. Wow, I know my mom and dad had the engines fail on a plane that they were flying back on from Mexico, when I was a little girl. My mom still talks about this experience and for a long time she wouldn’t fly again. I did know you survived of course, but you really had a great attitude about what I just happened. Seriously, I am not sure how I would react, but you definitely are so brave in my eyes!!
    Janine Huldie recently posted…To Let Go More & To Live In the MomentMy Profile

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    • Trust me, I did NOT want to get back on the next plane that had to take us the rest of our journey. I was terrified the whole time. And then, ironically, a year later I joined the Air Force. Terrified to fly… irony.

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  4. Awesome post – you captured the experience perfectly! I re-lived it as if it was just yesterday. Clearly (and thankfully) God had other plans for us that day! I’m glad we survived and can look back and laugh at it. I forgot about the car being parked at the Charleston airport, but I do recall a night spent on the floor of the St. Louis(?) airport. Not one of my finer traveling experiences!
    Love you!

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  6. Wow that is so scary. I would have refused to get on another plane. I don’t know how I would have made my way home but I would find a way.

    It’s funny the things that flash through your mind in a situations like that. And its funny that laughter is how we deal with those situations.
    Shanique Roca recently posted…I am not my pastMy Profile

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    • So true. But that relief (and I might have been a tiny bit high from inhaling so much straight O2!!!) just made us all a little giddy. I did NOT want to get on the next plane. As it turned out, it was a holiday weekend, and they couldn’t find another plane that evening, so we wound up sleeping on the floor in the airport. After that, another plane was a welcome sight!!

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  10. WOW!! I’ve never been afraid of flying but the last few flights have altered that a bit. When I flew in April the Captain YELLED at everyone to sit down and buckle up. I remember thinking “Really is this how it’s all going to end?”
    Robbie recently posted…Hand UpMy Profile

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  18. It’s taken me forever, but I’m finally making the rounds. I can’t believe this happened to you! HOLY CRAP! How weird that we both wrote about flying. And this is sooo scary. I was going to ask if it was real, but I can tell from the comments that this was not fiction. Good for you for turning something traumatic into something beautiful.
    renée a. schuls-jacobson recently posted…When Flying Was FunMy Profile

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  19. This is gorgeous! What a lesson to learn. I always feel like I would freak out if ever those masks dropped down. I’ve flown so much that I just tune out the instructions now. I think I need to not know that it’s a possibility, or I won’t be able to relax on the flight. If I think about the fact that we are hovering 30,000 feet in the air in a tin can, relying on a few skilled individuals to do their jobs and hopefully not have had a bad day when they were welding something into place/flying the plane . . . yeah. I’m very happy that you and your sister survived to tell the tale.
    Misty recently posted…Two AnniversariesMy Profile

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  21. Whoa, girl! I almost couldn’t breathe reading this. My ex was in a similar situation when he was a teen. The plane sorta crash landed but it was already pretty low enough that no one was seriously hurt. When the plane crashed into the ground, the oxygen masks all fell down and it was so ludicrous that he just started laughing and laughing. Then two scared little kids near him saw him laughing and they started laughing. Later on in the airport, their mother stopped my ex to thank him for laughing – it apparently really helped the little kids!
    Tamara recently posted…I Am Number Four.My Profile

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  28. Wow, what an experience. Thank you for sharing Alexa.

    Thank you for linking to Raising Imperfection.
    Please come back Friday to see if you were featured. 🙂

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    (¸¤ Lanaya | xoxo
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    Lanaya | Raising Reagan recently posted…July BabiesMy Profile

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