My last post, Drinking It Through A Straw, Part One was the start of a series of reflections on motherhood, Asperger’s and life in general. When I sat down to consider the memories I wanted to write about, as I grew quiet, single words, like kernels of heated corn, began popping around my head. It’s always fun to feel your brain coming alive with ideas. It’s the most delicious kind of energy.

And I like things that are fun so I spent some time with these popcorn words. For no particular reason the first was Heartbreak. Okay, maybe not such a fun word you may think, but I didn’t label it as good or bad, rather, I let the word take me on its trip. The fun was not knowing where the destination would be. Haven’t you always wanted to go to the airport with only a carry-on, look at the departure signs and just pick a flight? I have. This was kinda like that.

Before I go on to begin to tell the Drinking It Through A Straw tale, since I wrote about Heartbreak, I wanted to give equal time to the other end of the emotional spectrum. So with that in mind, today’s word is…

Joy. And it is 2008. OH-MY-GOD I go to back the moment just before I first flew an airplane by myself. I remember sitting there at the runway’s hold short line and I looked over at the seat next to me and my flight instructor, my constant companion since I started this journey, was NOT there.

I was alone in the cockpit of an airplane.

I looked down at my legs because as they were pressing on the brake pedals I could feel them wildly shaking from adrenaline. To break the silence and the tension I said aloud to myself, “There is no reason to be nervous. I’m trained for this and I am ready.” With that my legs stopped shaking.

Tower then called and cleared me for takeoff.

I WAS DOING IT!

I was going to FLY AN AIRPLANE.

BY MYSELF.

I turned onto the runway, placed my right hand on the throttle and pushed it full forward with absolutely no hesitation. I could feel the speed increasing as I split my attention between looking out the windshield to keep the plane on the runway’s centerline, glancing at the engine instruments, all green, and looking down at the airspeed indicator, 40, 45, 50 knots, rotate. I pulled back on the yoke. The airplane gently lifted off the ground and in a machine under my direction, me, a 42 year-old mother of two, slipped the surly bonds of earth.

With Joy comes the most wonderful, you-feel-it-throughout-your-whole-body tingle. Not to mention it gives you the biggest ear-to-ear grin!

Celebrating my solo with my flight instructor, Lloyd, on March 5, 2008

Pick a word and let it take you on a journey. What was the first word that popped into your head?

Coming Thursday: The word that led to the longest trip, Meltdowns.