Spring weather is kooky and unpredictable. I can say this because of the recent tornadic activity we’ve had in Arkansas and the crazy spectrum of weather I experienced in Colorado. My flight to Denver took off during one of the many thunderstorms Little Rock has been hosting lately. The sky was really dark and I saw random strikes of lighting as we walked in the airport.
“Do they fly if there is lighting?” I asked out loud to Parish. He looked at me and said, “Probably not.”
You see, lightning comes from the sky, planes fly in the sky and they are made of metal.
It doesn’t make sense to me, and I’m not even an aerospace engineer (that I know of). This simple equation is playing in my head as my husband hugs me goodbye and I prepare for a good old-fashioned frisking from the friendly TSA agents. My time in security is anticlimactic, and I find my gate in a matter of minutes.
I look out the huge windows and continued to see lightning.
A half an hour later, I boarded the plane and we took off. A moment later, as we are soaring through the friendly skies, I glanced out my window and saw a complete lighting strike from the top to the bottom. I’ve been known to overreact, so I gasped and gripped the arm of my chair. Everyone else just sat there – I expected widespread panic.
The only other person in the entire metal container who observed the natural wonder was the man in front of me. All he said was, “whoa,” and then he returned to his paper.
The captain didn’t even utilize his loudspeaker capabilities by saying something along the lines of, “Ladies and gentleman, I realize we are flying directly through lightning bolts, there is no reason to pee in your pants. Sit tight and we will have this airplane on the ground shortly. To compensate for the anxiety we have caused, please see the flight attendant for your $500 Starbucks card once you deplane.” Of course there was no such announcement.
Instead, I whispered a quick prayer and read through the Sky Mall catalog. The thought about one day having enough money to throw away on some of those bizarre items, like a solar powered grill that cooks with the rays of the sun for $1,000, settled me down.
Once safely on land with my family, life was complete and for the most part, safe. The first day I was there, my dad and I took a six-mile hike to the top of some bluffs by their house. It was a beautiful day!
In fact, it was so gorgeous that I sunburned my forehead, nose and neck. When we reached the top of the bluffs, we had an ideal, panoramic view of the city. The hike was a great way to start my vacation.
The following days also included walks, breakfast at some of our favorite places, a pint at
our local Irish pub, countless cups of coffee, shopping and a simply delicious Easter brunch. We also attended the Easter sunrise service at a park in downtown in Colorado Springs.
The service was special and especially cold. It snowed the night before, so the ground was still a little frozen. But being true Coloradoans, we bundled up, filled our thermoses and had a really nice morning.
In the past two weeks, I’ve been sunburned, watched snow fall and fell asleep to the sounds of rain, tornado sirens and thunder. I’m ready for summer, aren’t you?