Airplane Angels

Hailey and I were lucky enough to take a 2 week vacation, visiting family in Idaho and Washington. Since we're in Kansas and there's no way in heck I would ever drive that far by myself, we flew. Hailey's been on an airplane plenty of times before and did really well. But during the weeks leading up to our flight I became anxious and nervous because I knew this time would be different. Hailey is almost 18 months old (next month... yay for nursery!) and she's as wiggly as wiggly gets. Annnnd I would be tackling the challenge of maneuvering through the airport, boarding the plane, and keeping a child contained in a teeny tiny space ALONE. Travis still had classes, so Hailey and I made the venture without him. I hardly slept the night before the flight because I was just too nervous. I was thinking of worse case scenario (Hailey having a tantrum the entire flight) and it terrified me.

So the big day came. When Hailey and I were waiting for our flight at the gate, Hailey felt like that was the perfect time to practice screaming and yelling. No matter what I did, Hailey's yelling and craziness didn't subside. Let the tantrums begin. That lasted about 30 minutes of our 45 minute wait. 

This picture is a misrepresentation of our experience. haha

People's mean looks made me so angry. I know a toddler throwing a tantrum isn't the most fun thing to witness, but were the mean glares really necessary? (Yes, I really did get a few...) When she decided she was done, I was exhausted. Mentally, physically, and emotionally... and we hadn't even boarded the plane! I felt like crying. But I learned a valuable lesson on our flights. Ready? Here it is:

Heavenly Father is aware of my struggles as a mother and is always there for me.

Every time I felt like I was about two seconds from either a complete meltdown or going insane, an angel person came into our lives. Let me tell you a few stories of some angels God put in our paths during some tough moments.

Angel 1- After Hailey's meltdown at the airport before boarding the plane, we boarded early and headed to the back of the plane to take our seats. We were lucky enough to have an empty seat next to mine to use for Hailey. I let out a little sigh of relief to know we had a little extra space to work with. We were in a row with three seats and my seat was next to the window. A man, probably about 40, sat in the aisle seat, next to our empty seat. He immediately acknowledged Hailey and was talking with her. Phew. Someone who is okay with kids. His wife sat across the aisle from him with their two boys. For some reason, Hailey chose the man to be her new best friend and talked (blabbed nonsense) to him nonstop for about 20 minutes. He was kind to her and responded, pretending to know what she was saying. So he was our first angel. Such a nice guy. 

Angel 2- Our second angel is actually the wife of the man above. We were on a flight close to three hours long. So the happy chatting to her new best friend didn't last long. When she became bored, I pulled out all the fun things I packed as secret weapons to keep her occupied (finger puppets, her favorite books, favorite cars, snacks, etc.). She went through those very fast and decided she was done being confined to the small space I was working so hard to keep her in. She began to fuss. Oh no. Here it goes. I felt like I didn't have the energy to do this again. The wife noticed Hailey's fussing and immediately told the husband to switch her spots. She got out her iPad, opened a drawing app, and handed it to Hailey. Yeah, she let us use her IPAD! That lasted a good while. I was so grateful to her. Then when Hailey got bored, I got her fun things out again, thinking maybe they'd keep her occupied for a second time. The woman played cars with Hailey, put finger puppets on her fingers, and sang songs with her. Hailey loved the extra attention. I don't think the woman realized how much of a blessing she was to me. I thanked her, but that didn't even cover my feelings of gratitude.

Angel 3- On the first flight on the way back to Kansas, I sat in the wrong seat when I boarded. I was looking at my second flight's ticket. The seat was in the front of the economy section, you know- the seat with tons of leg room. Yes... this will be glorious. So when a guy came up to me and told me I was in his seat, I was distraught. Dang it. I double checked my ticket to realize my mistake. I started gathering our things when the guy said, "I can just take your seat. Which one is it?" I was grateful as I told him our assigned seat. One with no leg room and towards the back. Such a nice guy. So he counts as one of our angels for giving up such a nice seat when I'm the one that made the mistake.

Angel 4- Okay, last one. After the guy above left to go find his seat, a blonde, young flight attendant approached us and asked if this was our original seat. Crap. We got caught. I informed her of my mistake and the nice guy that took our seat instead. She told us that were were sitting on the wrong side of the plane for Hailey. The other side had the extra oxygen mask if anything were to happen. So she pointed across the aisle to a row of two empty seats and said, "sit there instead". I insisted on just going back to my original seat to avoid any more people switching seats on my behalf, but she informed me it was fine. So now we were sitting in a seat (still with the glorious leg room) with an empty seat next to us. We waited about 5 minutes for someone to come tell me I'm in their spot, or sit in the empty seat next to us, but nobody came! They shut the door and I wanted to shout with excitement. We got super lucky. Tons of leg room to work with, and an empty seat to spread out with Hailey. Hailey was acting crazy tired (we got up super early to catch the 7:15 flight) so I started rocking her to get her to sleep. When she was sleeping, I was resting my arm on the arm rest and supporting Hailey's head. The flight attendant brought me a pillow to put under my arm so it didn't hurt under the weight of Hailey. Soooo thoughtful and nice! I wanted to cry because I was so full of gratitude. Throughout the flight, the nice flight attendant kept checking on us and talking with Hailey. She was so kind.

These may seem like little minor things, but I truly believe they were tender mercies from my Heavely Father. I get so worked up and anxious before and even during a flight with Hailey. I get nervous that she won't behave, or we would get some crabby person in the seat next to us that hates kids. I just worry way too much. So these people were angels to me. Their small acts of kindness, that some probably didn't even know I took notice of, made a world of difference to me and Hailey. I'm so grateful for these angels that were put in our path. God is good.