Friday, July 17, 2009

the flight

am I crazy?

how did it go?
how long was it?
by yourself?
how old are your kids?

yes, I made it. I have received many compliments and accolades (wow-I've never used that word before) as well as some wierd looks and questioning thoughts concerning the desperation I must have been feeling to get out of Dubai or the mental state of myself or my husband in allowing/ sending me on this journey.

rest assured, I am not crazy nor deserving of praise and admiration.
I knew it would be a fun trip and that getting here would be the hardest part.
I'm also somewhat stubborn (I don't like someone telling me something is too hard for me)
I whole heartedly believe in the power of prayer
and I, as well as my husband, family, and friends, did lots of it. {thank you}
and prayers were answered.
I still think a cross country flight is more difficult or at least equally challenging to an intercontinental flight
I don't know why
and traveling with 1 kid can be just as challenging as 3
I don't know why on that point either
I believe that tv/ movie watching quotas should be ignored
and that bribery and incentives are beautiful things.
I try my hardest to ignore any dietary guidelines for the kids.  The pyramid can stand on it's tip for that period of time for all I care.
I also believe in Benadryl (which I didn't use this time because they don't sell it in Dubai, but I will be sure to have it with me for our return flight just. in. case.).
and I believe in caffeine (for me)
and
despite all the prayers, preparations and sugar offered,
I want you to know that, at one point on our journey, 3 of the 4 of us were crying at the same time.
The other one was asleep on the floor and his name rhymes with Crasher.

Most importantly: we didn't crash.
We landed safely 30 hours later on the opposite side of the world !!!
Air travel is amazing!!!
That is what truly deserves the accolades.


midway through my cross-country flight (D.C. to San Francisco0-the more difficult leg of the journey), the sweet flight attendant, Diane, handed me a note from a passenger sitting somewhere in the rows behind me. This may or may not have added to my tears, however changing them to tears of complete gratitude for kind people and prayers answered.

Dear Young Mom,
You have such precious children! Today is trying for you but this, too will pass! Enjoy those babies, as they will grow SO FAST, in a blink of an eye. God Bless you!
p.s. we once had three small babies just like you.

by this time Ivy had calmed down in my arms and fallen asleep joining her older brother. I wiped my eyes and stood to go find my baby (I handed him off to an open armed female passenger moments earlier, it was chaotic and I didn't know where she came from, but I was assured she and the flight attendants would take care of things). I found him asleep on the shoulder of a sweet young dad who was flying alone.  He was telling the flight attendants how much he loved babies, missed his 3 daughters and how he just found out his wife is pregnant with a baby boy!  What a sweet guy. 

while I'm extremely doubtful that the young dad, or the woman (I can tell by the handwriting) who wrote the note, or the woman who took Canyon in the first place, or the flight attendants or all the little answers to prayers and helping hands along our journey, are people who read this blog.

stranger things have happened.
so to you I say:
thank you!

12 comments:

  1. I can't even imagine. The cross country flights alone with kids about did me in. On the way out a woman asked if she could talk to Kate who was crying. It was pretty funny and did nothing to calm Kate down except for after the lady gave up and left I was able to make a few jokes about her accent that calmed Kate down.

    I know benadryl has the opposite effect on some kids - I'm a big believer in melatonin and it has worked pretty well for us. You can get 1 mg tablets at gnc and just give them half of one that they can chew. My kids will all eat them and they usually work within about 15 minutes.

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  2. Courtney- I was totally thinking about you when I wrote this. 5 across country- you are amazing!
    thanks for the tip on melatonin. I'll have to try it. I had heard similar things with Benadryl. It worked at Christmas time with Ivy, but I was flying with John and didn't have the baby- so I'm not as clear on how well it worked.
    Hilarious that sometimes helpful passengers just seem to make things worse sometimes. We had a few of those as well.

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  3. T.C. so glad I got to see you! What a sweet note to help on a long flight, it's good to know there are people who care and are willing to help out!

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  4. We are taking our two to Singapore in December. E-mail me with tips! And in Dec. I flew to AZ with both kids. On the way home John threw up all over me 3 times. A nice passenger held 3 month old Lucie for me. Thank goodness for nice people!!

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  5. Toria,
    You're my hero! When will you be in DC? Baltimore's only an hour and 15 min away, so maybe we could come down and see you (but of course I understand if your schedule is jam packed). Do you have my email/phone #?
    Cristie

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  6. Toria, your post totally made me cry! Oh I can totally see it. I went 8 months pregnant with my FOUR kids to my grandma's funeral. we were quite the sight and it wasn't even that long of a flight! but let me tell you, it wasn't pretty. I would have loved a nice note like that. what a treasure!! save it forever. so glad you made it safely and sanely. you win the travel award!
    Darcy

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  7. You are a brave woman! Glad you made it safely to all of your destinations!

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  8. I'm crying. It's amazing the people God puts in place to help us. I'm so glad you made it out. You are amazing. Hope the flight home goes well. We second the melatonin. We picked it up at the market and give half to the kids. We take it with us whenever we travel.

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  9. Toria,
    I'm so sorry I missed your comment on my blog! I hope you had a great trip. Here's hoping our paths will cross soon. (I'm guessing you'll have to come to the US, though, since I don't forsee a trip to Dubai anytime soon.) : )
    Cristie

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  10. The world IS full of great strangers-that made my heart happy!

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  11. You are amazing and I love all those people on that flight!

    The note made me cry.

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  12. I love the way you tell stories. With all of your heart and sweet observation. I hope that all the readers of your blog will become those kind strangers for others in our future. I still feel guilty when I didn't help the family behind me on the plane and it turns out she was the sister of a friend in our ward who asked as we met at baggage claim if I had helped her sister. I hope I'll never have to answer that question with a NO again.

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