Flying

Perry and I are safely in the Philippines.  I was wondering if I have ever shared my fear of flying?  Why couldn't I have a normal fear--snakes, spiders, clowns...(I have never understood how people can be scared of clowns.)  Yet, I have a fear of flying. I wasn't always scared.  When I was 4 and 5 years old, I was just fine.  And then...I hit six years old and everything kind of went down hill.  The mid to late 80s was plagued with flight hijackings and then the roof came of the 1988 flight in Hawaii.  I saw the stuff on the news, and then somebody thought they should make a movie out of the Hawaii flight, and let's just say I haven't enjoyed flying since then.  People don't believe me when I say I'm scared to fly.  Just because I fly frequently, doesn't mean it isn't just as torturing each time.  If you sit next to me on the plane, I keep myself completely immersed in something--a book, a movie, prayer.  I even read from Genesis through Psalms once.  

About 10 years ago, I was working on overcoming my fear when the television show LOST came out.  I think every episode of the first two season showed Oceanic Flight 815 plunging onto the island. It doesn't help that I spend most of my time flying to islands.  One night I had flown from the states and was on my last leg from Guam to Saipan.  It's about a 26 hour process, so I get really tired.  I doze off on the last flight and start dreaming that I'm on Oceanic Flight 815 and we are crashing. I woke to find myself frantically putting on my shoes.  That started my second round of fear.  For the next few years, my face would be red, my ears were hot to the touch, no good....

The last couple of years hadn't been quite as bad, but guess what I did Sunday!? I watched 5 episodes of LOST.  And on the last episode I watched, they were flying from LA to...guess where?  GUAM!  Of course, I know that they are not really flying to Guam. Not because it is a television show, but because a direct flight from LA to Guam does not exist.  Keeping that in mind, my flight to Manila tonight was...oh let's say...well...let's just say God and I got a lot closer in my 3 1/2 hours of prayer, I mean flight, I mean prayer.  It didn't really help that I flew through Tropical Storm Emong.  Thankfully, the storm should be taking a turn and Manila will only experience rain--not the winds.

It is 3:20am Guam time...maybe I should go to bed for a bit.  I'll try to get some Perry in the Philippines pictures posted soon.