Flashback

Today I read a post about a mom who flew with her daughter who has autism. It brought back memories of when Melanie and I flew from Los Angeles to Oklahoma by ourselves. That day was a nightmare. I barely made it to the airport. I was pushing Melanie in the stroller with our luggage two carry ons and her carseat. We has about 30 plus minutes before we board and melanie was getting restless. I pushed her in the stroller, went up and down on the elevator several times and then there was the dreaded escalator. She wanted to go down the escalator but we couldn't because I had the stroller and our carry ons. The child cried and cried for 30 minutes. Everyone stared at us. I just wanted to dig a hole and hide. I knew by the look in their faces that they were hoping that we didn't sit next to them. We were in boarding section A but I deceided to board almost last. I knew that if we boarded early Melanie would have been even more restless. As we boarded the pane you could see the look on those people faces a look of terror. We made it to our seats. Melanie wanted to sit by the window so I  let her. There was an empty seat next to me and then a man approaches the seat and I say "I guess you're the lucky one" and he smiled. He made a comment about her crying and I said just give it a few minutes and she will fall asleep. Before the pane took of I moved Melanie to the middle seat. About 15 minutes in the air she feel asleep. Thank you Jesus. Then about 45 minutes before we landed she woke up, that's when it all started again and thus time she was energized. Several times Melanie would try to get out of her seat, she cried, kicked, pulled on the seats you name it he did it. The man whom I think his name was Kevin was so nice and understanding. He helped me keep her entertained. Before we landed it was time for her to put her seatbelt on and the stewardess passed by and asks me to buckle her in. I was struggling and she kept telling her to buckle up. Finally I told her that she is not going to listen to you but she will listen to a man. So I asked Kevin to tell Melanie to sit down so we can buckle her. She did exactly what he said. So every time Melanie would start to meltdown he would talk to her and she would behave. ( Melanie always listens better to her daddy than myself) We finally landed. I was finally in Oklahoma and Kevin was going to board another plane. I thanked him for helping me with Melanie and we said goodbye.  I was so nervous the entire time. I remember telling Adam that I would never fly by myself with Melanie again. That next time I would wait for all 3 of us to fly together.  That was a day that I would never forget.