waiting for the light

Tuesday a.m., scheduled to fly from Rapid City to Atlanta. Snowing and 11 degrees. I eventually made it home safe and sound, but it was a long day.

The day started off a little strange when we were awakened at 3:30 a.m. by a lady's voice saying 'low battery'. After the third time we figured out it was one of the smoke detectors… and since the alarm was set for 4:00 a.m. anyway, I had an early flight and since it was snowing figured it might take a little longer to get there.

Driving through the dark snow-covered streets, well riding shotgun, I was already a little bit nervous.

My boarding pass said TSA PRECHK so I breezed through security, kept shoes on, waited at the end, picked up my purse and backpack. WAIT. The guy screening bags asked to see my backpack again, I gave it to him. He conferred with the lady supervisor. She said COME with me, stand BEHIND that line, DO NOT attempt to remove anything from the backpack. She proceeded to pull out all of my weekend belongings… jeans, undies, valentines candy. She swabbed down the inside… finally in one of the small outside pockets she pulled out the suspicious-looking device, a small cylinder with 3 wires attached. A charger. She was like AHA, this is what he saw and didn't recognize, said I bet he would like to have one of these, as she put back all of my belongings, makeup, sox, candy, lots of candy.

I'm not afraid of flying, but it does make me nervous sometimes, the hurry up and wait, the deadlines, the searching my backpack, the fact that I didn't have a seat assignment yet for the second flight of the day, the snow covered runway and snow covered plane.

Finally at the gate, waiting… still nervous (probably just coffee), I thought of this song, so I Googled the lyrics and saved them on my phone. I ended up reading them just a little while later after sitting in the plane on the tarmac for over 30 minutes, watching the de-icing orange foam run down my window and listening to the pilot say, "We are waiting for the light to come on that says the wings are warm enough."

I’ve been lately thinking about my life’s time
all the things I’ve done and how it’s been
and I can’t help believing in my own mind
I know I’m gonna hate to see it end

I have to say it now, it’s been a good life all in all
it’s really fine to have a chance to hang around
and lie there by the fire and watch the evening tire
and talk of poems and prayers and promises…

~John Denver

poems, prayers, and promises