I Win the Award for Worse Traveler...

Flying is not new to me. I have been on my share of flights in my life and have come a long, long, long way from the girl who may or may not have nearly had a panic attack on take off to Mazatlan... who may or may not have thrown up on a nearby passenger on an descent into Phoenix... or who may or may not have squeezed Jim's loving hand so hard his knuckles turned white.

That being said... when the first part of January came around and United had an awesome deal on flights out of Jackson and directly into Denver I immediately booked my mother's and mine tickets to the arraignments. This time of year travel through Wyoming can be rather difficult. I-80 can and will close at the drop of a hat making it impossible to get to Colorado. And quite honestly, I needed to spend the extra day I would gain by flying doing things like, oh I don't know... working... before I find myself jobless. Flying allowed me to work half a day on the day I flew out and half a day upon my return (although I don't know that I would call anything I did on either day really "working" as it takes an entire different mindset to sit there in the same room with those evil people and I'm pretty much not focused on work the week before and the week after a trip to Canon City).

At any rate, the trip down there this time was particularly exhausting. Mentally I had taken more than my share of punches. Emotionally I remain a wreck at this point and each trip down there seems to only bring me that much closer to the edge of my insanity (don't read into that too far, I am doing this for Jim and will continue to do so until I have seen that justice is brought to both Jim and myself; however, there's no handbook on grieving a loss or circumstance like this so you can only imagine where I'm emotionally at most days... add to that the facts surrounding the case and it's any wonder I leave my house on any given day). Physically I was beyond exhaustion. My mom had spent two nights with the flu keeping everyone on our hotel floors awake, myself included.

So my complete breakdown at 30,000 feet should come as no surprise for anyone. Except for the poor man next to me who already wasn't too friendly or outgoing to begin with.

If you're still with me, kuddos to you. Because I just had to scroll up to remind myself where I was going...

The return flight was obviously eventful. Bursting out in sobs alone would have made it so... but in a true "Tara Moment" it didn't stop there... no. It got better or worse depending on how you look at it...

Our descent into Jackson was not an easy one. We were on a really big plane and there were really big winds and a lot of turbulence. In an effort to advert losing any contents I may have had in my stomach I had made the choice to skip breakfast, but it wasn't helping much at all... so I closed my eyes and started focusing on my deep breaths... when all of a sudden WHOOSH! THE. NOSE. OF. THE. PLAIN. POPPED. UP.

I don't know about you, but I'm okay with side to side turbulence... but when you're plane is supposed to be heading down towards the earth and suddenly you're head is hitting the back of your seat it's going to freak you out... especially if your eyes are closed... so I did what any other person would do...

I.

SCREAMED.

OH.

MY.

GOD.

And it may or may not have been at the top of my lungs... and the poor man next to may or may not have had this horrible look on his face...

But of course my family has made a HUGE deal out of it all week long... it's going to stick like the stupid red rocks from 17 years ago... you know the family joke that even Jim would pick on me about...

So in my defense... here's a copy of the email that United sent me apologizing for such a rough flight:


Here's to hoping you don't end up sitting next to me on my next trip down there.