I’ll be the first to admit that I am like the
least adventurous person you will ever meet in your life! I know that about
myself, but certain situations have a way of pushing you out of your comfort
zone and what’s a gal to do? My husband
asked me one time if I wanted to go to Hawaii. I said, “Oh! Did they build a
bridge? Because you are not getting me on a plane.” That subject was dropped. I
have missed some pretty amazing trips because of my fear of flying although I
had no basis for my fear. It just makes no sense to me how they can get a piece
of tin loaded with luggage and hundreds of people up in the air for hours on
end.
Little did I know that cross selling bank products
would be detrimental to my emotional status. I was not a good bank teller. I
couldn’t get my drawer to balance to save my life, but I could cross sell the
heck out of our products. It wasn’t because I understood the products or used many
of them, but I received $5 for every referral.
Baby needed new shoes! Cha-ching! So every person who came to my line politely
listened to my spiels about the newest product we had. I’m not sure if I had
them genuinely interested or if they finally said yes so I would be quiet. Didn’t
matter. Five bucks, five bucks, five bucks!
There were always generous incentives for us, but
I tried to tone it WAY down when I found out that the prize was a flight to
Park City, Utah for a bobsled ride with Olympic gold medalist, Jimmy Shea. Did
I mention I was not adventurous? Do you see anything seriously wrong with this picture? I tried not to talk to people. I tried to get
them to go to the lines of the other tellers. But the day that I saw the
president of the Bank come in with two other people and a camera…I knew I was
doomed. “Congratulations, JoEllen, you have won a trip!” The pictures didn’t
reveal the terror in my mind. I hid it
very well.
Time went on and a year later I decided I was
going to become a stay-at-home mom. My supervisor said, we need to schedule
your trip before you leave. I assured her it was alright, but she was adamant. It was scheduled and a group of friends came
by my house to drop off a basket of silliness including a pack of Depends. I
didn’t think that part was silly, I figured I would be needing those for sure.
My husband went on the trip with me and consoled me as I gripped the handles on the little plane we started out on
and then chuckled at me once we got in the air and I couldn’t get my nose away
from the window as I tried to decipher the clouds from the snow.
A couple of months ago, ten years after that
first flight experience, I needed to travel to a funeral….alone this time. I
had my husband to figure out the airport terminals before and now I had to do
it. My brother arranged our flights so that I would meet him in Minnesota and
told me he would be there before me. After printing my ticket, I told him that
it didn’t have the gate number on it. He instructed that I would have to wait til
I got there. My response was, “I don’t wait well. You find me!”
My husband dropped me off at the airport. I
boarded and after finding my seat, I immediately pulled out my journal. Writing
calms me and I could feel tears rising. I wanted to reach for my tissue pack
but felt that would only be giving myself permission to cry. "What if I
get sick," I thought. I pulled the seat pocket out in front of me to see
if it would hold what I had to offer, need be. No I did not see the little
paper bag til my brother pointed it out in Minneapolis. My seating partner
immediately put on earphones, a universal sign (my brother informed me) meaning
"No I do not want to talk." I peeked at people. Everyone looked so
confident. As we began to move, I felt funny. It dawned on me then that maybe
my aisle partner isn't so confident but is actually listening to a CD on How to
Not Freak Out While Flying. I wanted to ask her if she had an extra set of
headphones. All of a sudden we are in the air...and I wasn’t crying...Yay me! It
was amazing. Did I mention the pilot was 12? He looked way too young to be flying
a plane for sure. When my brother greeted me, I hugged him and sang the Pull
Ups song: “I'm a big girl now!” So a
bobsled ride (which was AMAZING) and six times on a plane, my options are
limitless now!
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