Days pregnant: 58 U.S., 44 Europe
So I just had one of the most harrowing experiences of my life. And it wasn’t even that harrowing – that’s how boring my life is. (In fact, I’m not even sure if I have a strong grasp on what harrowing means, simply based on the lack of harrowing events I’ve experienced.)
I was in Juneau, Alaska for work. In October, that’s some of the lousiest weather on the planet. Dark, hard rain, and cold. I had been there for a few days, and was anxious / ready / excited to leave and get back home to see my wife. (Who has had a few days of terrible nausea. Poor thing.)
Well, first my flight was delayed because of the inclement weather. Sucky. Then, we got up in the air, flew for about 20 minutes… and I see a distressed look on the stewardess’ face, as she brisky walks to one of her compartments, grabs some manual and laminated instruction card I’ve never seen before, and huddles with the other stewardess. I turned to the passenger next to me who also witnessed this and said, “When the stewardess looks worried, that’s not a good sign.”
Sure enough, about 1 minute later, the pilot gets on the radio and briefly says, “We’re experiencing a major electrical failure. We’ve started our descent back to Juneau. Assume crash positions.” ASSUME CRASH POSITIONS?! Yikes. That’s the first time I’ve ever had to do that.
Now, I should preface this with, just a month ago, the same thing happened to a friend of mine when flying into Alaska. So I somewhat felt prepared, that this was nothing too emergent, just a safety precaution. And the passenger next to me explained he’s a volunteer fire fighter, and that he’s seen this before, and “nobody ever dies from this.” Uh, thanks guy, for putting that remote possibility into my hyperactive imagination. I was in the crash position for 15 minutes – and the longer I sat there, the more I started to let my imagination run wild.
Luckily, the landing was as smooth as silk. I guess it was a precaution. I don’t know how often that happens – I’m guessing not very, based on the panic look I saw on the stewardess’ face. But there were people who disembarked from the plane in tears. I guess if you’re imaging the worse, then that’s a pretty awful position to be in. (Metaphorically and literally.)
But in those 15 minutes of waiting … that’s when I had my first thought so far in this pregnancy of, “Oh, crap. My wife is pregnant. If I die, she’s going to have to raise a kid by herself.” Until now, I’ve never concerned myself too much with my wife’s life after my death, but I guess it’s time. She’s been bugging me to get life insurance. And in that moment while sitting in crash position, wondering what the landing would be like, a thought crossed my mind: “Crap, she’s been bugging me to get life insurance. If I die, she is going to be really mad.”
So I guess I’ll be shopping for life insurance in the coming… month week day. Er… well, before my next trip anyway. Probably. Maybe. Soon. Ish.
Posted by Manchild 