Flying, Spines, and Hanging Upside Down

I thought I’d compile all these miscellaneous thoughts and get random today. Random Tuesday is the creation of Keely over at The Un Mom. Check her out!

I survived another flight last week. I never posted about a traumatic flight I had in December— it really slayed me. Coming back from FL visiting my 88 year-old grandmother, the plane got hit by lightning and I quietly cried and the lady next to me tried to comfort me but she was praying to Jesus. The pilot or flight attendant never said anything. A man behind me yelled, “OMG the plane was just hit by lightning” after a huge boom and a flash of white light right outside my window. I knew that my trip in March for work was coming up and in February when I made my reservation online I was hot flashing and out of breath.

Here’s what helped with this trip last week. Besides flying in very nice weather, after waiting an extra 90 minutes for a delayed flight, I happened to be standing in the tall window right next to the pilots who were going to pilot the plane. They were nice, they provided the "human" reminder of who is up front, and one was really cute. Then, on the plane, I happened to sit next to a lady about my age and I think she was nervous too and we talked. That makes a huge difference for me: someone friendly to talk to during take off and landing times. And the nice Southern gentleman pilot (the more mature one) stood by the cockpit and thanked everyone for the business and I thanked him for a good flight. The flight back went well too. I feel perhaps I am moving forward with the plane anxiety.

Besides this plane trip in which I spent way too much time sitting in two airports, I also spent an extra 10 hours in my car for some day trips, which has done havoc to my neck. So yesterday I visited the chiropractor who is a no frills type (just visit when you want to, adjusts my neck and spine and I’m good to go).

But then last night I went to my youngest son’s baseball practice and I sat there for 90 minutes overestimating how the weather has turned balmy—I was not dressed warm enough. So I was all tense and I should have walked but it was dark out so I just sat there cracking and spitting (sort of) sunflower seeds. My middle son hung out skateboarding, as there is a skate bowl nearby. I teased him that I was going to join him on my rollerblades and he said, “Oh, the skateboarders don’t really like it when rollerbladers go in the skatebowl. Especially a middle aged woman.” Ouch.

Later that night I hung upside down on our new inversion bench. I surprised my husband last month for his birthday and had it delivered fro

m Amazon. He put it together the same day and after rolling my eyes about his desire for an inversion bench for the past few years, I have to admit I really like it. It looks like some sort of fitness equipment but you clamp your ankles down (must wear shoes) and then lean back slowly and you can control via your arms how much of an angle you want to lean back. The Hubs goes completely upside down for several minutes but I am working up to that point. The pull of the spine feels great. Afterwards I felt like I had done some good yoga without the Cat and Cow poses.

It’s boy sports season around here again. In January and February only one son was enrolled in sports and now all three are: baseball, roller hockey and baseball. I will be sitting at lots of games and practices (or maybe rollerblading nearby, hah!) and something tells me I will be on that inversion bench nightly.