Storytime Tapestry Newsletter

The newsletter devoted to spreading love and cultural awareness around the world.

Nov 28, 2006

Today’s announcements

^{Remember that all stories and poems were lost because of the computer crash, if you sent me anything in late August, September or October and you haven’t seen it published please send it back again.  Thank you.}

See below for Storytime Angels

Now onto the good stuff!

Today’s Queue Stories

~**~**~

Airplanes

Sharon Bryant

I have never liked riding in airplanes.  I guess that feeling came from my first flight when I was 19, flying from Detroit, Michigan to Oklahoma City.  Something happened with the landing gear and we had to emergency land in Birmingham, Al.  No tires, and as the plane circled, I saw foam being put on the runway.  Was I scared?  Oh, just a LITTLE.  The man sitting next to me was praying out loud, the woman on the other side had her rosary out.  And the captain told us we had to get into crash position.  And I have never forgotten that flight.

I have flown since, only when my folks MADE me fly to Vegas or when my husband was in the military and was at base for 72 hours.  I'd fly down to Virginia to see him before he shipped out again.

But the truth is, I have not been on a plane in the past  25 years.  Until now.

I would never have got on the plane a week ago if it were not an emergency.  I had to fly from Birmingham to Minneapolis for my daughter's heart surgery. 

Everything has changed since 25 years ago.  I had to take my shoes off so many times this flight, I should have went barefooted.

Now some of you are avid flyers, and what I'm about to tell that happened, I'm sure you will say, "That's standard."  But for me and what happened, it about did me in.

When we left Birmingham, we got our tickets ok at the United Counter.  We had two carry on bags.  The airlines knew I had to be in Minneapolis before 5:00 A.M. the next morning.  I was assured that I would land early in the evening, around 9:35 P.M.  Other than hating heights, I felt good that I would be there when my daughter was going into the operating room.

I smoke cigarettes.  I had totally forgotten about lighters.  Inside my purse was my cigarette case.  Not a problem.  I went through the scanner just fine, nothing triggered it off.  Off with my shoes, no bombs in my heels, I cleared the scanners. 

Then I saw the plane.  I could have put it in my purse.  I said, "Where's the big jet?"  They told me I was on a commuter plane from Alabama to Chicago.  I didn't like that at all.  The plane was just too small.  I mean, if I'm going to go down to the ground from 34,000 feet, I'd like some company with me, and 52 people aboard that plane was just not enough.  There wasn't enough to even hold hands with had we suddenly dived downward.

Yet we made it to Chicago ok.  With a tiny bag of cheese crackers and a little glass of cola, we made it.

There was a little over an hour between the flight we just came in on and the one we were to board for Minneapolis.  We got to the United counter and was told our flight was canceled.  I told them I had to be in Minnesota before 5:00 A.M. the next morning.  They told me that was impossible, they could put me in there at 3:30 P.M.  I told them NO, I HAD to get to Minnesota that night.

They told me to check with another airlines, that any flight heading north may head to Minneapolis, but our flight was canceled due to the storms coming in from the west.

I went to Delta, explained the situation and they said they could put me on a flight leaving in an hour.  I asked how much.  She said, "$1,495.00."  I said, "that's two people, round trip?"  She said no, that was for one person one way.  I about fell over.  Minneapolis is only 300 miles from Chicago.  My husband told them to keep their ticket, we'd rent a car and drive.  Meanwhile I go back to United and said we were not waiting, we were renting a car.  The man said our ticked was non-refundable.  I was so disgusted at this point, I replied, "So what else is new."  Suddenly another man at United asked if I had the doctor's number, name of hospital, all info about my daughter really being operated on and I looked at him and said, "Would anyone joke about something like this?  Yes, I have all the information."

He sent me to a counter where a woman was at, and she handwrote out the change in our tickets.  We got on board a United plane and landed in Minneapolis at 12:35 A.M.  By the time we got a cab to the hotel that is hooked onto the hospital, it was 2:00 A.M.  We had nothing to eat all day but a little bag of crackers on the planes and a drink of cola.  Hubby and I were starving.  We called for a 4:00 A.M. wake up call.  So with less than two hours of sleep, we were headed towards the hospital using the skyway and we made it to the heart institute on time.  I sat with my daughter while they got her prepped for surgery.

I think that is the hardest thing a parent has to go through, seeing their child scared half to death, and trying to tell them everything is going to be ok when you don't know yourself everything IS going to be ok.  They took my daughter into surgery and hubby and I waited in the waiting room for four hours before the nurse came out to tell me the surgery was over.  They also told me my daughter could go home the next day.  I think I was more than amazed that you can have surgery inside your heart one day and go home the next.

The next day when I got to the hospital at 10:00 A.M. when they told me my daughter would be released, I knew something was wrong.  There were too many tests being done, and I saw the blood pressure machine and saw that the blood pressure was too high.  It was then a nurse came and got me alone and told me the surgery did not take.

They sent my daughter home with a heart monitor which they will be checking for 60 days.  It will then be decided if she goes through the surgery again or possibly has a pacemaker placed.  My daughter has Wolff Parkinson White Syndrome.  The heart has an extra piece inside that should not be there.  It is releasing "electricity" to the center of the heart, echoing back, circling and causing her heart rate to climb to almost 300 beats a minute.  The average heart beats between 60 and 100 beats a minute.  This excessive heart racing causes dizziness and inability to breathe.  It also can cause the person to faint.  The condition is found one in 200,000 cases.  It is a birth defect.  We never knew she had a problem until it recently began showing up with shortness of breath and her heart racing.  It is called WPW disease.

I spent the day with my daughter after she was released.  She took us to a country restaurant and we all had lunch together.  Then I found a spice place and being a candy maker, I bought a 4 oz. bottle of pure Almond extract.  Plus a small bottle of raspberry steak marinade.  We walked the streets of Minneapolis and all three of us were worn out by early evening.

I had to fly back home the next morning.  I'm not used to using cabs and buses but that was the only means to get around, so we had a cab pick us up at the hotel early the next morning.  Hubby wanted to get to the airport two hours early, which we did.  Good thing.   I was real happy to see a BIG plane by the boarding section instead of that little thing we flew from Alabama to Illinois in. 

We handed the United lady our tickets, she punched them in on the computer and said, "Mr. Bryant, you can board but Mrs. Bryant, you're not on this flight."  I said, "WHAT?"  She said I was not in the computer.  I told her I didn't CARE what the computer said, I had my ticket and I was getting on the flight with my husband.  She told me I could not board unless I was in the computer.  She said my ticket did not exist, it did not even show that I had flown TO Minneapolis.  I looked at her and said, "Just how do you think I got here from Alabama?"  She shrugged her shoulders.  She again said my husband could fly back home but if I wanted to, I'd have to buy ANOTHER ticket.  I told her that was insane, I already paid for my ticket once. 

To make a long story short, I was ready to whip someone's butt if they didn't put me on the plane with my husband.  I threw enough of a fit I guess they decided they better put me on the plane.  They gave me the ok to board.  We had not had enough time to eat anything, so it was cheese crackers again and a little drink of cola for lunch.  Our two carry on bags went through just fine.  In my bag was the Almond extract and steak sauce.  In my purse was the cigarette case and lighter.

Guess what?  The alarm went off for my lighter, and my hand bag showed something suspicious.  So this cop sits me down in a chair and tells me she's going to dump my purse on this table.  I told her go ahead.  She sees my cigarette case, opened it, and said, "I'm taking your lighter."  I said "fine."  She told me not to touch my purse, keep my hands off the table.  My shoes were still on the belt in a tub they make you put them in.  She found my Almond extract in my carry on, and the steak sauce.  She told me they were keeping it.  I told her to dump it out in the trash, it cost a lot of money and I'd rather see it down the drain than to have someone else get it.  That didn't go over very well with her.  She said to have my husband take it to the United counter, show the two bottles to them and if they said it's ok, we'd have to check our bag in and I could keep the bottles in my bag. 

So I said, "I've got a question to ask you."  She just looked at me.  I said, "If I were carrying a bottle that could possibly be some type of explosive, what difference does it make if it goes off inside the cabin or inside the belly of the plane?"  She didn't answer.

I asked her again to answer the question and she replied, "I don't know."

So the bottles flew in the bag in the baggage department.  On a little plane again.  With cheese crackers again and cola again.

I've come to the conclusion of a couple of things.  First, the security cameras are not 100% efficient or my lighter never would have made it up to Minnesota.  Secondly, if you really want to go on a diet and lose weight fast, just ride in some planes for a few days.  You'll be sick to your stomach and the only food you'll get is tiny cheese crackers shaped like an airplane.  The bag is very small, but it fills you up.  Your thirst will be quenched with 3 ounces of Diet Pepsi Cola.

As for me........I'll be there again if they operate on my daughter a second surgery.  But next time I'm driving.  I can get a sandwich if I want, I can stop and have a cigarette when I want, and I can feel my feet on the ground, which I love.

I just don't care for airplanes.

Sharon Bryant

1946@bellsouth.net

Poetry Corner

~**~**~

When strangers come knocking your door

Tannia Ortiz-Lopes

When strangers come knocking your door

in a day of great distress...

listen carefully to their message

please, don't send them away

When strangers come knocking your door

they bring a basket full of goodies

they bring a basket for survival

they bring a basket, just for you.

When strangers come knocking your door

they heard the call from a friend afar

they heard the calling of all Christian

who gather together

and make you smile

When strangers come knocking your door

not always dangers comes alone

they are responding to a message

sent by someone who you know

When strangers come knocking your door

they let you know, who they are

they are not strangers

they are just friends

you did not know...

you have

Those strangers are not longer strangers

since they have been your friends all this time

you did not know them personally

until the day you need them most...

When strangers come knocking your door

you no longer feel alone

they gather with you and rejoice

for all the blessings and the joy

you brings to them daily....

Dedicated to Carol Roach - from a stranger living in Germany...

Carol, your history inspired this poem.... It is my way to say THANK YOU for all what you do for all of us....

Tannia E. Ortiz-Lop?s was born in Guayama, Puerto Rico and currently lives in Germany with her husband and two sons.  On 2004, the author published her first free-style inspirational poetry book, The Window to my soul, My Walk with Jesus, with Tate Publishing and under the pen name of Mary Magdalene. On March 2006, the book was voted “Best Poetry Book” by www.christianstoryteller.com The book could be purchase directly from the publisher at www.tatepublishing.com and at all major online stores.

Author’s webpage: www.myspace.com/tanniaortizlopes. The author also has a blog at www.amazon.com

~**~**~

Moonlight Sorrow

Maria Doherty

Moonlight spills softly

Across the silent grave,

Haunting the darkness

With the memory of light.

Deep within my soul.

A sigh rises, transmuted

TO a silent keening moan,

A note of longing and of loss.

Silver shadows cast across

the tall pale granite stone

Etched with sorrow's icy tears

Drawn from sightless eyes.

I ache for one more day to walk the earth

For one more night to hold you close,

Before the Light of dawn returns

And I am once more lost to Life.

Maria Doherty

www.chrysalistransformations.com

www.achangeinmind.com

mariadoherty@blueyonder.co.uk

Readers Feedback

What makes a Good Article? - Thank you Carol for a Very Informative piece.  S K Jandu

very nice, Carol.... Good tips for me....Tannia

Carol,
  Excellent advice my friend.  It should help people wanting to make that
leap of putting their world on paper for others to share.  Keep up the great
work.  Wishing you every joy, Joe

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