Part one - One small step..

I had been dreading going to England for months because of my big flare up of sarcoidosis.  With just over a week to go until I left I had become bed ridden with pain and now really worried about it all.  As I lay there, feeling sorry for myself, my oldest son, Keegan called from England and asked me if I wanted to visit the seaside town of Great Yarmouth when I got there...I told him I couldn't even walk let alone go sight seeing and all that.  I realized what I sounded like..a real misery guts.  It was then I decided to take daily doses of even more steroids until I could get back on my feet.

By launch date I was feeling physically much better, but now worried -  1).  I'd forget something.  2) I'd get on the wrong plane.  3).  Miss the flight.  4).  Keegan would go to meet me at Gatwick instead of Heathrow.  or 5).  I'd get ill on the plane.  

I asked Brad and William to drop me off at the Spokane airport three hours before my flight left for Seattle, just to make sure I had plenty of time to get checked in and all that.  They wanted to go somewhere for lunch....but I couldn't relax until I was the airport safe and sound.  After my bag was checked I asked them to leave me right there so I could mentally prepare to start going 5,000 - 6,000 miles by myself.

I sat near the T.S.A. (security) check point trying to have an out of body experience...didn't work..  So I took a deep breath, stood up and took that first step of my long journey home.  Five minutes later I was at the Alaska Airways gate very hungry and realizing I had three hours to kill.

For someone going on vacation I just couldn't get into it because I was thinking about the pets, the horses, my house and my garden.  Then it happened!  Out of the blue I started feeling excited.....for the first time in years I was going on a long journey..alone!  No kids, no pets..no compromising all the time about every little thing.  I was foot loose and fancy free...well sort of.  Then I realized I was channeling the wild eyed free spirit that used to be me!!

THIS GIRL!

That's me in London 1972 - 40 years ago.  That girl wouldn't even bat all her false eyelashes at the thought of zooming off into out of space even...which I actually think I was in this picture.  I was 18 and that year I flew off alone to meet some friends in Jersey, Channel Islands for a week of sun and fun.  The following year I flew to the U.S. (New York City & D.C.) twice..once by myself.  I was fearless.  Nothing worried me, be it flying off somewhere on a whim or riding my pony across every bridge in Bedfordshire.

By the time my flight took off I was the confident traveler of yesteryear.  I was going to take some pictures of the farm when we flew over it, but distracted by free airline snacks I missed it and took these pictures of the Columbia River instead.




At the Seattle airport 'free spirit girl' became 'competitive girl' and I was determined to win the race up various escalators and concourses with the group of people I was moving along with.  I was about to pass the leader, a man with a wheelie bag, when my joints reminded me I was in fact 'chronically ill woman'.  I came in second anyway.

I had a nice meal at SeaTac airport at a restaurant where it suited me...nobody else to compromise with...haha.

Brad asked me what kind of plane I was going on and I sent him a pic of the actual plane.  Here they are loading the food on.  Good.


In the next installment - one of my 5 fears comes true, plus another one I hadn't even thought of.