Our son Jasper has been on many flights already in his twenty months of life. He points up at the sky in amazement whenever an airplane goes by and yells, “AIRPLANE! AIRPLANE!”
And yet, despite this, and even his obsession with airplane books and control towers and his little airplane toys, he seems to have recently developed a fear of flying.
On a flight we took a few weeks ago he started to get scared as we made our way on the jet bridge… squirming in my arms and yelling, “No airplane!” As we sat in our seats and got settled in, it looked like it was going to be smooth sailing, and then right at take off, he started to freak out… I mean, rightfully so. He seemed like he was finally making sense that the plane he sees flying randomly in the sky, just happens to be exactly what’s happening to him when he’s inside one of those flying tubes.
It is wild when you think about it… and while he was processing this I held him close. He cried and nestled in my arms… scared and also trusting in Dad to take care of him. I felt his body exhale and somewhat succumb to the inevitable flight we were already embarking upon.
As he got settled in and regulated, he looked over at his mom and decided he wanted to sit down and play with his diggers and dump trucks (he’s obsessed with all things construction and truck-related). All was well again in the world.
I want to share two things this reminded me of before I share the most amazing part of this experience and what Jasper taught me:
Comments +