Love Is In The Air
Sitting in the passenger seat of the car, 8 years old in the parking garage of the airport, about to make the scariest trip of my life. Dad had to work this morning so it’s just mom and me. It feels like a dungeon in the parking garage, cars lighting up like fire breathing dragons. There really isn’t too many people around, for an airport that is. I’m fiddling with the window button on the door trying to think up a good excuse not to go. The window goes up and everything is silent, window goes down and it sounds like a vacuum cleaner is going to suck you out of the car. Finally I get the courage to look over at my mom and tell her the truth. “Mom, I’m scared. I don’t want to get on the plane. I just want to stay home for the summer.”
“Elizabeth, sweet heart you’ll be fine. I this all seems scary now but it will work itself out, trust me. Lizzie I was scared the first time I got on a plane, but you want to know a secret?”
“Sure!”
“My first airplane trip turned out to be one of the best experiences ever. You just talked to your grandparents last night, and they are so excited to see you. Just think of how much fun your going to have in Minnesota. You’ll get to see your cousins and all your aunts and uncles, and don’t forget about Lacy. You guys always have a good time when you’re together.”
She’s got me there, and I would have fun but I would have lots more fun if I was going by train, or by car. I think riding an elephant to Minnesota would be more fun than getting on an airplane, besides you never hear anything about people hijacking elephants. And mom has never been scared, so why is she admitting it now? “Mom, you were scared?”
“Yes, I was scared. Have a never told you about my first time on an airplane?”
“Obviously not mom!”
Turning the engine off, mom turns in her seat to look at me; she has this look in her eye like I’m going to get lectured for something. She hit the child lock switch on the windows so now I was being forced to play with the Vanilla Air freshener on the dashboard, anything to distract me from this.
“Well, I was about your age. It was right after my third grade year and Grandpa and Grandma had decided to go on a second honeymoon to Europe for the summer. We were living in Rochester at the time and I was flying to Atlanta to spend the summer with my Great Aunt Betty and her husband Roger. I was just as scared as you are now, and my mom and dad took me by the hands and led me through the airport and down the terminal. I had a brand new pink backpack and mom had just bought me the book Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing by Judy Blume, so I would have something to read on the plane. Dad gave me a sketchbook and a new set of markers.”
“Hey now I didn’t get anything fancy for agreeing to this, you guys owe me. In fact I’m not getting on the plane until I collect on my debt.”
“They have a books story in the airport Elizabeth that can be arranged.”
“aaah, she got me again.”
“Anyways, when we got to the gate, we walked up to the counter, which was so tall I couldn’t see over the top of it. I heard my parents tell the lady at the counter who I was and I heard a voice come over the loud speaker, ‘We need an escort for a child at gate A2. We need an escort for a child at gate A2. Thank you.’ A few minutes later a very pretty young girl with big green eyes and dark hair tied up in a knot, wearing a blue stewardess outfit came up and greeted me, she told me her name was Lexi, which was short for Alexis.”
“Mom and Dad kissed me good-bye, and passed me off to Lexi who took me by the hand, and led me down a very long, very cold tunnel, which eventually led to the belly of the airplane.”
“So Grandma and Grandpa just handed you off to a complete stranger, just like that and watched her take you into a tunnel? Are they crazy, she could have kidnapped you.”
“Stop being so dramatic Elizabeth. To finish the story, Lexi told me that she would be my flight stewardess and that I could sit in the front row by her and that if I needed anything at all, all I had to do was ask. I sat down in my seat, next to the window. It was uncomfortable because I was in the front row, and there was a wall in front of me, so I had nowhere to put my feet. Lexi helped get me buckled in. She then had me take what I needed out of my backpack, before she put it in a drawer above my head.
“Looking out across the tar Mack I could see my parents waving from the window of the airport.”
“what is a tar Mack mom?:
“The tar Mack honey is the big parking lot they use to park the airplanes on when they loading and unloading.”
“Mom I’m still scared and this story isn’t helping.”
“Well let me finish, I was so scared that I started to cry. Since they hadn’t begun loading passengers yet Lexi and I were the only ones on the airplane. Lexi sat down next to me and asked me why I was crying. I told her exactly what your telling me now; that I was scared and that I didn’t want to be on an airplane because I was afraid something bad was going to happen. Then Lexi told me about the first time she had ever gotten on an airplane.”
“She was 7 years old, and had just finished the second grade and her parents were separated and living in different states. She lived with her mother and was on her way to see her dad for the summer. Since she and her mother lived in Minnesota and her Father lived in Florida. She had been really scared getting on the plane for the first time. The flight stewardess had been an older lady who didn’t smile and hardly talked at all. She reminded her of the wicked witch of the East from the Wizard of OZ. She had a long pointed noise and wore her graying here in a very tight bun, and apparently the women hated bunny rabbits because she kidnapped Lexi’s bunny rabbit and stuck him in the cabinet above above her head. She told her that the rabbit was distracting to the other passengers. She just glared at Lexi and told her to behave herself. Lexi had thought it was the worst thing that could ever happen to her.
“The first part of the flight, she flew from Rochester to Minneapolis. When she got there, she got off the plane, and rode on a small cart with the mean flight stewardess.”
“Why didn’t they just take her broom stick?”
“Elizabeth!”
“Anyways It’s about that time sweetie we should start heading inside.”
“I had lost the battle my mother the women who was suppose to love me and care for me and protect me from danger, was going to make me get on an airplane. It was almost to much to bear.”
“Walking through the parking garage was not helping my fears, it was so dark, there were few people, but it felt like at any second a monster was going to jump out and eat you alive. Good thing mom parked close and we didn’t have far to walk. driven by a man in a jumpsuit. Stepping through the sliding glass doors was like entering another planet that smelled like pine sol, there were people everywhere. I was barely in the door and here comes a man driving a little car just like my mom had described.”
“Ok Mom when you’re ready, finish your story.”
“The man on the cart drove them all the way to the other side of the airport, where the flight stewardess introduced her to another stewardess, and took Lexi by the hand, and led her down to another airplane, which would take her to Florida.”
They passed her on to the next person like a piece of luggage,. All she had to keep her company was a pink bunny rabbit, which seemed to be annoying everyone. When she got onto the next plane, the flight stewardess led her to her seat. Sitting in the seat next to hers, was the cutest boy she had ever seen. He had the blondest hair and the bluest eyes, and when he smiled at her, he said, “Hi!”
“Lexi said he was the most beautiful boy she had every seen, his name was Nicholas.”
“Lexis sat down and started talking to Nicholas and she found out that he had almost the exact experience she did flying into Minneapolis from Sioux Falls.”
”Nicholas thought all the grown ups were mean, and that he too was worried that the plane was going to crash, even though he’d been on planes before and none of them had crashed.”
“What do you mean the plane would crash? I thought 911 was just a bad misfortune are you telling me this happens all the time! I can’t be in a plane crash, I don’t even know Algebra yet!”
“Elizabeth! Calm down the plane is not going to crash, and you need to stop yelling because you’re freaking all of these people out.”
“Nicholas said that all he wanted to do was turn around and go home. He said, ‘This place is like a prison. If you even squirm an inch, they’ll come running to tie you into your chair. At least on my last airplane trip I got to meet the pilots and they gave me these cool little wings and everything. This time they wont even talk to me. I asked for wings and they told me to just sit down and behave.’”
“Well, it turned out that Nicholas lived with his mom too, and that his dad also lived in Florida. When Lexi and Nicholas got to Florida, they found another coincidence; their dads happened to live in the same apartment building. They both laughed becausethe apartment building was painted the color of the ocean and had a mural of a blue marlin painted on the side. They embraced this coincidence because this way they didn’t feel so alone. So as it turns out this was the first of many summer adventures for Lexi and Nicholas.
“Once their parents realized what good friends they had become, they started booking all of their summer flights together, and every other Christmas. It put the two kids at ease, because they were no longer alone.
“They spent the next 10 years making the trip together. When they were twelve, their plane experienced an electrical malfunction and the ended up on a five-hour layover in Atlanta. The flight attendants had taken them to the employee lounge area, where they could relax. When no one was looking they escaped from the lounge, and Nicholas stole one of the commuter carts. They went tearing through the airport. When security caught up with them, they were so mad, they contacted their parents and got permission to handcuff them to their chairs. It was complete torture. They ended up watching the entire Miss America Pageant, because no one would change the channel for them.”
“Who were they rooting for mom?”
“I have no idea Elizabeth, that’s not the point of the story.”
“I was just trying to make it a little more interesting.”
“Mom kept talking and talking and talking, and all I could do was look around at everything around me, they had gift shops of every kind and restaurants, little chairs with TV’s attached for people watch television, secret doors that said VIP’s only. I had always considered myself to be rather important but for some reason I didn’t think they would let me in, if I could get away for 5 second I would definitely try, I bet I could convince them to let me in.”
“The older they got, the less people paid attention to them. When they were thirteen, Nicholas gave Lexi her first kiss on a flight between Minneapolis and Chicago. When they were fifteen, they were flying to Florida to spend Christmas with their parents when a blizzard hit, and they ended up stranded in Minneapolis. Which was a funny coincidence, since neither of them lived far from there, and Minneapolis was their first connection.
“So there they were, two fifteen-year-olds, stuck in the Minneapolis airport during a blizzard. They called Lexis’s mom who booked them a room at a local motel, and then called Nicholas’s mom to let her know what was going on. They took a cab to the motel, and spent three days together.”
“Did they have sex, in the movies they always have sex.”
“ELIZABETH! Apparently I’m having the wrong conversation with you.”
“Mom, I’m eight. I watch movies. I know about that stuff.”
“Apparently you watch to many movies, and I have been doing a poor job of monitoring what you’ve been watching.”
“Moving on! When they were seventeen, they thought it would be fun to take a little mini vacation. They decided they would sneak onto the wrong plane, and took a flight to NY instead of Orlando,
“When I asked Lexi whatever happened to Nicholas, she said Come with me.’ She led me up the aisle, to the cockpit, and introduced me to the Pilot. Lexi said, ‘Amanda, I’d like you to meet Nicholas.’ And there he was, sitting in the pilot’s chair, in his dark blue suit and cap. He was so handsome.
“I said, ‘Wow, you guys work together? Are you married too?’ Sure enough, they’d been married for four years. It was like a fairy tale! That’s when I heard giggling and looked over and saw the cutest boy I have ever seen standing in the doorway of the plane. He had big green eyes, and strawberry blonde hair…”
Elizabeth said, “Was it Daddy, Mommy?”
“Yes, Elizabeth, it was your Daddy.”
“So that’s how you met him!”
“Yes. So see, some of the scariest experiences can turn out to have the happiest endings. Life is just full of unexpected surprises. So what do you say, are we ready to get on that plane?”
Elizabeth smiled and said, “No.”
“Well we have to go through security now, so behave.”
“Once inside, security gave mom a special pass to get through the security check. Iwatched intently as the security guard opened My suitcase and searched everything inside , before closing it again. Then we walked to the security checkpoint, where we had to stand in line for twenty minutes. Then and Then the security lady asked me to remove my shoes!”
. “Mom, I don’t think that Lexi and Nicholas would have such a good time now-a-days. Well with all the security issues.”
Amanda laughed. “You’re probably right, hun.”
“ We kept walking, this place seemed like a never ending amusement park, finally we reached where we were suppose to be going.”
”Mom walked up to the counter and informed the lady that I would be flying alone, I heard her call out over the loudspeaker.”
“We need an escort for a child at gate C3. Repeat, we need an escort for a child at gate C3, thank you.”
“I looked at my mom, she was so beautiful and looked very young for her age and I always thought she looked trust worthy, so maybe she was right about this whole flying thing. Mom, Did you ever see Lexi and Nicholas again?”
“No, I never saw them again, but I’m sure they lived happily ever after. They really were the cutest couple you could ever imagine.”
Elizabeth smiled. “Even cuter than you and Daddy?”
Amanda laughed. “Well, I don’t know about that…”
They walked over to the gate, and a beautiful woman walked up to them with big green eyes, with her dark hair tied back in a knot. She was wearing a blue stewardessoutfit, and said, “Hi! I’m Alex. I’m here to take you…”
Elizabeth was so excited that she practically screamed, “Mom! Look! Her name is Alexis!”
“I looked up at mom and her face looked like a radish she was covering her eyes like she does when I’ve does something completely embarrassing.”
“I’m so sorry, I was just telling my daughter the story of my first time on an airplane, and about a flight attendant named Lexi, and her husband Nichol…” Amanda stopped, as she realized how much Alex reminded her of Lexi.”
“Well, if you mean Lexi and Nicholas Nelson, who used to work for Northwest Airlines, they would be my parents. Said Alex.”
“You’ve got to be kidding me, all of these years and I have always wondered what happened to them, they were the nicest couple I had ever met.”
“It’s amazing how many people’s lives my parents touched with the story of how they fell in love. It’s really quite amazing. It’s almost like having a celebrity for a parent!”
“I can’t believe it’s all true Mom! I thought you made it all up! Do they still work here? Can I meet them? Can I?”
Amanda shook her head.“I’m really sorry, this is all just such a coincidence.”
“It’s fine said Alex, I don’t mind at all.”
Amanda nodded. “Well, then would you mind if I asked what became of them? I’ve been wanting to know for over twenty years.”
Alex smiled softly. “After I was born they both retired from Northwest Airlines and started their own charter company. Some important people would commission my parents to fly them between meetings and social events and things of that nature. Four years ago, there was a terrible blizzard in Minneapolis and they had to cancel a flight. I’m sure you’ve heard the story of them being stuck in a blizzard in Minneapolis. Well they thought this would be a good time to relive that memory, and they booked a room at that very same motel that they had stayed at so many years before. My father, Nicholas, called a cab to take them to the hotel and on the way there, the cab hit a patch of ice skidded off of the Passover Bridge and landed in the middle of 494. It caused a massive pile up. Eight people died that night, including my father and my mother.”
“As I looked up at my mom again, I could see that she was starting to cry, tears were slowly slipping down her face, I grapped her and I hugged her as she continued to talk to Alex.”
“That is so horrible I am so sorry, I didn’t mean…”
Alex cut her off with a wave of her hand. “No, no. It’s fine. My parents were quite well known and people ask me about them all the time.”
A voice came over the loudspeaker, saying it was time to board the flight. Amanda got down on one knee again and said, “Ok Elizabeth are you ready to board the plane?”
Elizabeth looked up at Alex’s green eyes, and then back to her mom. “I suppose, Mom. Do I really have to go?”
“Yes sweetie you really have to go. Don’t worry you will be home in no time. Now go enjoy your summer.”
“I through my arms around my mom and kissed her on the cheek, she told me she loved and let me go, I grabbed Alex’s hand and started down the long tunnel.”
“Hey, guess what, Elizabeth said Alex.”
“I don’t know, what?”
“It just so happens that I met this really cut boy about your age earlier. His name is James.”
“Really? Where was he going?”
“Same place you are.” As Elizabeth stepped onto the plane, she locked eyes with the cutest boy she had ever seen. He had sandy brown hair, and beautiful hazel eyes. It was love at first site.
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