New York, New York!!

I can officially say I have been to New York!!! Ok, ok, so I flew OVER New York.... That is the way to sight see,  let me tell you. I love flying! You can smell the adventure and excitement. The whole world is at your hand in a matter of minutes. I love the way you feel as the plane leaps from the ground to the air, and the way masses of people rush here and there. It's like everything goes into fast motion as you stand there taking it all in. Flying makes you feel like you own the world one second and then that your tiny and insignificant the next. The sights you see are incredible! I have always said that one of my favorite views of Kansas is from an airplane. It looks like a beautiful giant patchwork quilt.Views like that remind you how great our God is. How can anyone fly past a crescent moon in the midst of a black sky and not think about awesome our God is!? YEP, I. LOVE. FLYING.

"I might have been born in a hovel but I am determined to travel with the wind and the stars." -Jacqueline Cochran

So, this past week I once again hopped onto a small little airplane, flying out of Wilmington, NC. (That airport was smaller than Wichita! Which is saying something.... Michael Lincoln, poor man, almost had a heart-attack when he saw how small it was...City Boy. :p) Smaller airports just mean smaller security lines. I have it down to a science by now.

Pull out ID and ticket. Hand them to first guard. Pull off shoes. Grab two boxes. Put in shoes, ID and ticket. Grab out liquids, conveniently placed in carry-on, and throw it in box. Pull out Ipad and throw it in box. Throw first carryon on conveyor belt. Put suitcase on conveyor belt. Pull out laptop and place in the second box. Walk through the scanner. Retrieve my items. Success.

Like I said, down to a science. :)  Then its time to find your gate and hopefully start boarding. Once on the plane I find my seat, put my suitcase in the overhead and my bag underneath my seat, just like they tell you. I usually have a window seat. :) Open up the shade, grab some gum and wait for the best part of the flight! TAKEOFF!

This airplane happen to be a very, very small airplane. In fact, I had to check one of my bags because they didn't have very much overhead space. My seat was by the window (thank goodness!) but, it was the last seat in the plane. There was no one sitting next to me, so I could just look out the window and stare at the place they call New York.

 "I have a feeling we're not in Kansas anymore." 

-L. Frank Baum

The moment we reached New York and began our decent I was glued to the window my jaw on the floor. Every single square inch of property had a building on it!!! And the buildings were ginormous! The only place I could actually see the ground was when we flew over a cemetery. Let me tell you, that is a lot different than flying over Kansas. I have never been terrified to land in my life...until that day. Maybe it was the fact that 9/11 is still etched in my mind.... There is always that thought "what is something goes wrong." I have often thought through the possibilities in my travels. Flying over Kansas my thought was, we just land in an empty field...which is everywhere. As I looked down at the city below me my thoughts were....if something happens we either hit a building or land in the ocean. (I didn't like those options) We circled the city and began to descend, getting closer and closer to the ground. I sat in my seat intensely staring out the window, my stomach in knots. All I could think is, "there are buildings, there are still buildings. Please don't let us hit a building!" I looked and looked but didn't see a runway. Next thing you know I didn't need to worry about buildings cause we began to fly over water! At which point my thoughts changed to, "Oh there is water, and still water. Please don't let hit the water!"

"No one realizes how beautiful it is to travel until he comes home and rests his head on his old, familiar pillow." -Lin Yutang

It turns out the runway was jutting out into the water and we landed just fine. I guess the pilot is use to landing in big cities with lots of tall buildings. This Kansan however was almost at her wits end. It took us a while to pull into the hanger and I was able to watch as plane after plane after plane landed. They just kept coming! Apparently a lot of people want to visit New York. All I could think was "how on earth does someone live this way...with no land." I'll take good old flat, boring, not so populated Kansas, any day of the week! :)