Life Is Precious

I flew to Shreveport, LA on June 8th for Derek's retirement party from the Air Force.  I was flying from Tucson to Dallas and then on to Shreveport.  For over a week I was worried about this flight and could not get it out of my mind.  I arrived at the airport in Tucson 2 1/2 hours early and when I checked in they placed me on a different flight that was leaving in 30 minutes.  I hurried and got to the gate as they were almost finished loading the plane.  I settled into my seat and waited with excitement of seeing my family in just a few hours.

Finally the waited moment of take off arrived and I was so excited.  The engines roared and off we went down the run way and into the blue skies of Arizona.  Approximately 5 minutes into the flight, the engine noise went totally silent.  I looked out the window and thought to myself that we were not going to gain the altitude we needed to go over the mountain.  All of the passengers were looking at each other with panic on their faces.  Suddenly the plane banked to the right and once again it banked to the right.  I was beginning to get a little nervous.  I looked out the window and the ground seemed to be getting closer and closer.  The pilot came on the intercom and told us that we had to return to the airport as an indicator light had come on and it was proto call to return.  We arrived back and landed safely.  What a sight it was to see every emergency vehicle lining the runway. We later found out that there had been a fire in side of the tail compartment.

While we were still in the air and the ground was coming closer and closer, my thoughts were rather calm.  I remember thinking to myself that I had lived a good life and if my time to go was now, I was okay with that.  I knew each of my family members had the knowledge that I loved them dearly and had done everything in my power to give them the love and support they needed in life.  They knew that I had a strong testimony of the gospel and valued my membership in this church.  I was sad that if we did crash and I didn't make it that I would not see my new great grandson that had been born the day before nor would I see my birthday which was the next day.  I did know that my Dad would be there with open arms to welcome me to heaven.

We made it safely, I got on my original flight and made it to Dallas.  I was to late for my connecting flight, which had been canceled anyway.  Derek and his family drove from Bossier City and picked me up.  This trip was extremely hard on me, but worth it.  Nothing is better than seeing family.