Of Flying and Phones

The other day Bugster and I flew up for a wonderfully relaxing family vacation at a lake with hubby's family. It has been a while since I flew with him, so I was a tad nervous about how it would all work out. We got to the airport just in time, with only about 15 minutes until we had to board the plane. I checked with the gate attendant to find out how far I would have to go from my arriving gate to my connecting flight's departing gate and found out that I wouldn't have to go anywhere! We would arrive at the very gate the next flight would depart from. I was amazed at how smoothly things were going, so I called my folks to let them know. (Mom had gotten up at o'dark hundred to take us to the airport.)

Very soon they called for us to board and we did. It was a small plane where you had to walk up the steps to get on it, so a very nice attendant helped me with the carseat, so all I had to manage was my toddler, a backpack, and my pregnant belly. We settled in and I sat there amazed at how smoothly things were going. I reached down for my cell phone to turn it off, but couldn't find it. I checked all through my purse, all through the backpack, all through the carseat under and around my son, but there was no phone to be found. At first I thought I could just not worry about it. Surely it would show up eventually right? Then visions of all kinds of horrible things filled my head - it ringing mid-flight and wreaking havok with the airplane's controls or causing a panic amidst the passengers or it being found in the terminal and the whole airport being evacuated while a bomb squad was brought in or my telling someone about it and their announcing over the loudspeaker, "We're sorry. This flight has been delayed due to a passenger not being able to keep up with her baggage." No matter what I pictured, it wasn't good. My face turned red, but I knew I couldn't just ignore things.

I meekly made my way up to the flight attendant, "Um, excuse me. I just went to turn my cell phone off and, well, it's not in my purse or carry-on. I think that perhaps it fell out in the gate area. I don't want to delay our departure or go look for it or anything, but, well, I just didn't want it to cause a panic if it was found, so I thought I better tell someone." As I said this, I think my face must have turned redder and redder. The flight attendant grinned, assured me it was no problem, and then called (loudly) to someone on the ground who ran it to look. I returned to my seat and the minutes ticked by. It felt like it was taking them forever to close the door, and I was so sure it must be my fault. Soon the attendant appeared back in the door holding my phone. Someone had indeed found it in the terminal. He walked down the aisle, and as I felt like every eye on the plane was on me, asked if it was mine. "Um, yes. Thank you so much." I was filled with both relief and horrification that now everyone knew what I had done. Right away the door was shut and we got under way. Later the flight attendant assured me that they were actually waiting for a couple bags to be pulled and it just so happened that someone found my phone while they were waiting, but still I felt like each minute we were delayed must have been my fault. God is good and must have caused a tailwind, because we still arrived at our destination ahead of schedule. You better believe I put my phone in a zippered compartment and triple checked each time we went anywhere in the airport to be sure I still had it!

In other interesting plane thoughts, did you know that on some planes they now have special infant life vests in case of emergency? I found myself actually reading the instructions on the safety card for the first time in years to be sure I was prepared just in case.

Also, I learned that if you open the air-vent to your seat and keep turning it, you can eventually make the knob fall off. No, neither my son or I did this, but a guy a few rows ahead of us did. It then took him quite a while to get it back on. I'm sure he felt like all eyes were on him, just as I did when my phone went missing.

All in all it was a great flight and although I was horrified at the time, now it all seems rather amusing.