First Solo Flight

Today, Michaela took her first solo flight… to Denver, to visit her Nana and Papa.

Mike and I had talked about her going, but as it got closer, I got more and more nervous about Michaela flying. Not for any particular reason… After all, Michaela is a great traveler – she’s been to 13 states and 12 countries – and she’s a calm, levelheaded, good kid. Mostly it’s because I’m a mom and I worry!

Mike dropped Michaela off at my office before he had to head out of town. And from there, it was like a comedy of errors.

She and I headed to the airport, only to find awful traffic on the freeway. I ended up getting off the freeway to avoid the traffic and we made it to the airport, only to find that the only available parking spaces were in the far corner of the lot. We hauled ourselves into the airport, only to find a super long line to check in. Which we had to do, because unaccompanied minors can’t print boarding passes at home. We waited and waited and waited in line, finally talking to an agent 20 minutes before the flight was to board. Then it was off to security, only to find a line that wasn’t long but was slow-moving, and to have Michaela get selected to have her hands swabbed for explosives.

Because you know how six-year-olds are.

Once we were cleared, we hustled upstairs. It turns out that Mike hadn’t given her lunch and it was 5 p.m., so we ran through the bagel store (no time for toasting; “raw” bagel it was) and then hauled booty to the gate, where they were already boarding C 31-60 passengers.

Oy!

The gate agent was great, took Michaela in right away to get her seated. Except I was still holding the bagel I’d gotten for Michaela to eat for dinner, and she was gone. I was already feeling really emotional, so I got teary. One of the passengers in line had seen me drop Michaela off and said, “Unaccompanied minor? I’ve been there before. Here, I can give that to her.” He took the bagel from me, boarded the plane, that was that.

I’m thankful for the kindness of strangers.

I stuck around until the plane pushed back from the gate and am now waiting anxiously for Michaela to call me once she’s on the ground in Denver.

We made it through our first solo flight!