For a lot of people, flying is a really scary thing.
And that fear can come from a few different factors. You’ve heard stories about planes that have crashed (even though it’s rare). You’re gonna be in this metal tube a few miles above the ground. And you’re putting your life in the hands of people you don’t even know.
Part of flight attendant training is learning how to handle a passenger who has anxiety about flying. If someone steps on to the plane and tells them, “Hey, I’m pretty nervous about this”, they have ways to deal with it. They need to keep that passenger comfortable, and everyone on the plane safe.
One thing a fearful passenger can do is ask to meet the pilot. This might not always be possible, but in many cases the pilot is happy to meet a nervous flier and provide some reassurance. Then, a few minutes later when the plane is taking off, you can think “this feels a little scary, but I met the person who’s flying the plane, and they seemed to know what they’re doing”.
But takeoff is just the first part – you still have to get back to earth. What if the plane is landing, and no one – not even the pilot – knows that anything is wrong…
Until you hit the ground.
Full show notes for this episode are here:
https://WhatWasThatLike.com/249
Graphics for this episode by Bob Bretz. Transcription was done by James Lai.
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Episode transcript (download transcript PDF):
For a lot of people, flying is a really scary thing.
And that fear can come from a few different factors. You’ve heard stories about planes that have crashed (even though it’s rare). You’re gonna be in this metal tube a few miles above the ground. And you’re putting your life in the hands of people you don’t even know.
Part of flight attendant training is learning how to handle a passenger who has anxiety about flying. If someone steps on to the plane and tells them, “Hey, I’m pretty nervous about this”, they have ways to deal with it. They need to keep that passenger comfortable, and everyone on the plane safe.
One thing a fearful passenger can do is ask to meet the pilot. This might not always be possible, but in many cases the pilot is happy to meet a nervous flier and provide some reassurance. Then, a few minutes later when the plane is taking off, you can think “this feels a little scary, but I met the person who’s flying the plane, and they seemed to know what they’re doing”.
But takeoff is just the first part – you still have to get back to earth. What if the plane is landing, and no one – not even the pilot – knows that anything is wrong…
Until you hit the ground.
Scott
Prior to this, were you ever nervous at all about flying?
Elenas
I did have a fear of flying, yes. It wasn’t super severe, I wouldn’t say, but I took the job knowing that they did fly and I was hoping to overcome my fears with flying. So I did have a fear of flying.
Scott
That’s something that a lot of people have, but it’s interesting that you pursued a job that required that. Are you typically the type that’s “I’m afraid of it, but let’s just face it, let’s just hit it head on”?
Elenas
Yes. I’m not going to let it stop me from travelling because I love travelling.
Scott
This happened about two and a half years ago. You were flying pretty regularly back then?
Elenas
Yes, probably around twice a week. It depended on the work schedule, obviously. I would say I was part-time and I probably flew, I would say, four to five times a month.
Scott
And what was your work? What were you doing?
Elenas
I was a surgical assistant for a medical facility, and we just flew around to their separate locations in the northwestern part of the US. They had several locations.
Scott
And when you say surgical assistant, it sounds like you’d be the one to hand the surgeon the tools that they ask for while they’re operating on someone.
Elenas
That’s correct, yes.
Scott
Okay. I figured that out really easily.
Elenas
Well, I was making my way up in the company. At that time, I was a sterilising assistant, and then you make your way up through the company and you’re all the way up to a surgical assistant.
Scott
And what kind of surgery was this?
Elenas
This was cataract surgery.
Scott
Okay, so cataract removal. It’s interesting though because, usually, I think of surgery happening in a hospital, so you would just stay local. Why didn’t they just hire local people? Why did they have to fly you around to these various locations?
Elenas
I’m actually not really sure why they didn’t hire just locals. It’s still a question I have, but I couldn’t tell you why it was more productive for them to buy these jets and fly people to facilities.
I don’t know.
Scott
And so you weren’t flying commercial, the company had these planes and they had their own pilots and everything then?
Elenas
Yes. They were like a 10-seater twin engine jet, and they had three of them.
Scott
I guess there’s money in cataracts.
Elenas
Yeah, I think so.
Scott
Was this usually just overnight and then back home?
Elenas
No, it was just a full day. It’d probably be about a 10 to 12 hour day if it was flying. We’d start our day at 6.30, getting on our flight, and we’d get home probably around– could be anywhere between 6.30 and 7.30, but never overnight.
Scott
Let’s talk about what happened on that day. What kind of plane was this or how many passengers were on the plane?
Elenas
There were nine passengers, and it’s just a Cessna twin-engine aeroplane jet, not the propeller kind, and it was just like any other day. I was actually on call that day and got called in that morning. I never have been called in, and that was the first time that I actually got called in that day.
Scott
So there were nine people. These are all people that you work with?
Elenas
Yes.
Scott
So you knew all of them?
Elenas
Yes, I knew all of them. The plane was so full that one of the staff had to sit in the cockpit next to the pilot. So it was a full flight. I’d say it was about a roughly 45-minute flight. We got on the plane about 6.30 AM and you could either listen to podcasts while you’re on the plane or a good movie. Actually, the pilot that day, excellent pilot, he’s one of my favorites – just very smooth takeoff, very smooth landings. He is just one of my favourite pilots, and it was a very uneventful flight, no turbulence, beautiful day, clear skies. So we went in for a typical landing. I was putting away all my gear and my backpack, and we came in for a landing and hovered over the runway a little longer than I thought. Since he was such a great pilot, I thought the plane had already touched down because his landings, I’m telling you, were so smooth, but we had not hit. We were hovering.
Then, it hit and it was metal-on-pavement, if you can imagine, screeching, grinding sounds. It was really loud and at that moment everybody looked at each other. The girl in front of me, her seat faces me, so she’s actually going backwards. The look on her face was just sheer terror and everybody’s looking around. I see the girl up in the cockpit. She turns around to look at us, and we’re just skidding across the runway and sliding and grinding. The plane actually started to turn slightly to the right. The left wing was starting to turn. I thought, at that point, that the airplane was going to start rolling or swinging around, but it somehow corrected itself and I could see the pilot trying to gain control of the aircraft. At that point, you don’t have any control over an aircraft. All you have is wing control, I’m guessing. If whatever’s happening underneath the aeroplane isn’t down, you have no control.
Scott
So this was completely without warning?
Elenas
Yes. There was no, I’d say light noise going off, no warning signals, anything. It was totally silent. That whole aircraft was just silent. I always pay a lot of attention to what’s happening in the cockpit because I am a fearful flyer. So, I always watch the pilot and what they’re doing, and if they’re freaking out during the flight, then it’s a good indication for me to start freaking out. I watched as he landed, there was nothing happening on that airplane, no warning signals at all.
We slid all the way from when we landed. I would say it was 20 feet. We stopped 20 feet before the end of the runway, and NTSB says, “We stopped at the departure lane where planes come in to depart.” I was looking out the cockpit thinking, “We’re going to keep sliding and we’re going to slide into the ground and this thing is just going to start flipping” because we were still going so fast.
Scott
Do you know how fast you were going when you hit the ground?
Elenas
The NTSB said that we hit the ground at 164 miles per hour and it just slid the whole length of the runway.
Scott
And what’s past the runway? Is it trees or a road or do you know?
Elenas
It was just dirt and gravel and brushy stuff. It’s a very dry country – kind of deserty out there.
Scott
Can you describe how loud was it? What was the sound like inside the plane while you were sliding?
Elenas
It was very loud. It’s really hard to describe the sound unless you’ve heard metal grinding on pavement. Just screeching. It’s indescribable. If you’ve ever heard any sort of metal dragging under your car while you’re driving – I’d say scraping – across a pavement, times that by 10 because we were totally on our belly. Nothing was down.
Scott
Obviously, you landed without the landing gear, without the wheels, but it seems like a plane would have some kind of notification that you’re getting too close to the ground and your landing gear has not been deployed.
Elenas
Yep. Correct.
Scott
What were the other passengers doing? Was there a state of panic?
Elenas
Everybody was actually very quiet. I mean, everybody’s eyes were as big as basketballs, but we were all very quiet, and I feel like our brains were just shutting off and preparing us for the worst. I mean, that’s the only way I can explain it because I thought I was going to die, like, “That was it. I was actually living out my worst fear of dying in a plane crash. That was it.” And it was completely silent on the airplane. Not even alarms going off. I mean, just silent.
Scott
And was everyone wearing their seatbelt?
Elenas
Yes, everybody was wearing their seatbelt.
Scott
While this was happening, what was the pilot– could you see him? Was he saying anything?
Elenas
He wasn’t saying anything. I was looking out my window and the cockpit window because I was watching us approach the end of the runway, but I kind of was watching him as well, and he was pressing buttons and trying to control the steering wheel, I would say, of the aircraft, keeping it from twisting. But I really don’t think pilots have much control if their wheels aren’t down and it’s just sliding like that. I think he was just trying every angle he possibly could to keep that thing from twisting and turning.
Scott
Yeah, I can imagine the pressure on him because– I mean, you guys are all in fear for your lives individually, but he’s kind of responsible for everyone’s life on that plane.
Elenas
Yes. So it finally reached its stopping position and he got up out of his seat and he said, “Everybody, you need to get off the plane right now.” I grabbed my bag and he was opening the door – it was on the left side of the aircraft if I was facing forward – and we all filtered out. I was probably third or fourth off the plane. As I stepped out – the stairs usually drop underneath the aeroplane – they just fell out right onto the pavement and they didn’t fall under because we were on our belly of the aeroplane.
I stepped out and I looked to my left and there was just fire blazing from the back of the plane and there’s a hole in the wing and there’s jet fuel just spilling out onto the runway from the wing. And I just ran. I was like, “This thing is going to explode.” And I ran. I got to say I didn’t even look back. I was in fight or flight mode and I didn’t think about any of the other passengers, which is not very nice to say, but I don’t know. I was just in a really weird state of mind and just ran, and I heard the plane just– I couldn’t tell you if it exploded or the front window blew out but, at that point, it exploded. I turned around and the whole thing was just totally engulfed, and that was probably close to about 15 seconds after the last passenger exited the airplane.
Scott
And was the last passenger off the plane the pilot?
Elenas
No, it was a girl in the very back of the airplane. Everybody hates that seat. It’s actually like across from the bathroom and it’s dark and there’s no windows. She was back there and it came very close for her to get off that airplane.
Scott
I just have to pursue this question. Was the pilot the first one out?
Elenas
I can’t remember if he was either the first or the second. He did run off of that thing pretty quickly.
Scott
So when you exited, was he already out? You could see him out of the plane?
Elenas
I have a hard time remembering.
Scott
Yeah, you’re full of adrenaline and not really–
Elenas
I feel like he was standing in the cockpit hallway area. I feel like he was standing there, but I know that he wasn’t the last one off. He wanted to go back for his laptop and phone, and the lady that was standing next to him told not to go back there because it blew up right after the last person. You got to just leave it. It wasn’t like a sink-with-the-ship with him. He beamed off there pretty quick.
Scott
So where did you go from there?
Elenas
I called my husband. At that point, I could hear the fire trucks and ambulances. They were coming up and they had no– usually, there will be a call in if planes have no landing gear so that they can spray the runway with foam so that planes don’t catch on fire, which they had no warning of, so they were rushing down the runway. I called my husband at work and I feel so bad because I scared the daylights out of him. He thought we had crashed in the wilderness and he was like, “You need to call 911 and get away from the airplane.” I was like, “No, I think the tower has already called 911” because I hear the ambulances and I just feel really bad.
And then I had called my mom and told her what was happening and then we all just stood around until they put the fire out on the airplane, and then the firefighters and ambulance came over to us and started asking us questions if we were okay. At that point, I was sitting down because I just felt so sick, so nauseated. It must have all the adrenaline just coming down on me at once. They took us in the ambulances and some vans to the fire station at that point.
Scott
And is this a fire station that’s local in that area or is it on the airport grounds?
Elenas
I believe it’s local in the area. We went to the fire station. They gathered us in a room and they, “Do you guys need anything? Can we do anything for you?” I feel like everything at this time was very cinematic, very slow motion. I don’t remember a lot of it. The time is just really strange, but they had us fill out a report on what happened and then turn it into us. I guess there were some investigators there.
We were there for probably an hour, and then they said, “We need to get you guys out of here because the reporters are starting to show up.” So they filtered us into their fire station area where they keep the fire trucks and they pulled the vans in there, put us in vans, and then took us to another airport. I don’t know what was happening, why they were pushing us around all these different places, trying to figure out what to do with us. Somebody had said, “Well, how about we send another airplane to get you guys and bring you back home?” And I said, “I’m not flying anywhere. First of all, I’ll hitchhike home if I have to. I’m not flying. “
Scott
You had enough of it for that day, huh?
Elenas
Yeah. So we went to the other airport and sat there for a while. I just remember the pilot– he was just pacing and he was going through something, I don’t know– because it was already coming out on the local news and everything that there was a plane crash. From there, they took us to a medical facility that I work for in the area, and we went into the break room and the owner came out, talked to us, and asked what happened, and he was just in shock at that point and they were trying to figure out what to do with us and they figured out that they had some vans for us and they had some drivers to take us back home, which was probably about three hours away.
Scott
What kind of message did the owner of the company want to convey at that time? Did he have an explanation or did he say, “Don’t worry, we’re going to take care of any injuries”? How was he handling it?
Elenas
He handled it very well. He felt really bad for the whole situation and he asked the pilot, he said, “What happened?” And the pilot explained to him what he could, and then we explained to him and he was just kind of in shock. I do have to say though that the owner said to us, “If anybody needs compensation, please let me or your supervisors know.” It’s a religious company. So he prayed with us and then he said, “I got to get back to work” because he’s like the main surgeon. So he went on to work.
Scott
Were there any actual physical injuries?
Elenas
Some girls claim to have some back sprain and there was a couple– it seemed like it happened more in the back of the airplane because that’s where more of the girls have back issues. In fact, they have gone to the doctor for this and have had MRIs and all of that done, and they’re working with Labor and Industries through Washington State to get that taken care of.
Scott
Were you under the impression that’s what the owner was talking about as far as compensation? I mean, obviously you’d all just lost a day’s work also,
Elenas
Right. They did pay us for the day, but that’s not what I thought he meant by compensation. I had actually reached out to him and the CEO and asked about the compensation again, and they probably talked to their lawyers and I’m guessing, and came back and said, “That’s not what we meant by compensation. What we actually meant was if you needed time off.” So it was kind of retracted.
Scott
He spoke a little too soon before consulting with their attorneys.
Elenas
Yeah. So that’s how that went. They did pay for counseling sessions for all of us afterwards.
Scott
You got home like three hours later after the three hour ride. What was that evening like?
Elenas
I mean, the car ride was really quiet. Then, we got back to the airport hangar and some of our supervisors were there and they were hugging us and crying, and I just want to get out of here and I just want to go home. I got in my car, went home, which is about a half hour away. My kids were all there staring at me, my mom was there, my husband was at work still. I told him there was no use for him to just leave work and come because it was such a chaotic time and I just, “I’ll see you when you get off work.” It was just like a really surreal time, a very strange feeling. Everybody was just in shock of what just happened.
My sisters were texting me. I had other family members texting me, “Are you okay? And what happened?” There was a rumor that somebody had started that they had seen the crash from the airport and he said he didn’t see anybody get off the plane and that we all died. He sent that to my workplace and everybody was freaking out over there, and it was just chaos. We did get a mass email from the owner– the pilots. This will never happen again, they’re sorry about it, and they promise to everybody this is not something that will ever happen again, in other words. The technical term I want to say from the NTSB was that the pilot did not ensure the landing gear was extended before landing, and that contributed to the pilot’s unstable approach.
Scott
Not only to put down the landing gear, but also the wind flaps to slow down the landing, slow down the forward speed of the plane – he hadn’t done that either.
Elenas
I looked this all up on the NTSB because that’s where I get all my information from. The airplane’s flaps were likely configured in a takeoff setting, which contributes to warning lights not triggering on, if you understand. When you’re going too fast for landing, which the plane was at 164 miles an hour landing, and landing speed is 130 knots, which is I believe 110 miles an hour. So when these things are not done correctly, I think that what they’re saying is the warning signals do not go off because the plane doesn’t think it’s landing. That’s why there were no warning lights being issued when we hit the ground or getting close to the ground because the plane didn’t understand that it was landing.
Scott
That just seems weird to me. I’m not a pilot, so I have no idea what I’m talking about here, but the plane should have known that, oh, I’m 10 feet off the ground. Maybe the wheels should be down. That seems like common sense.
Elenas
NTSB found no issues with the plane’s electrical system or warning system, none of that. They didn’t find anything wrong with it.
Scott
Did you ever hear anything from the pilot himself?
Elenas
I haven’t heard anything from the pilot. I haven’t heard anything from the pilot. We saw him that day and then, after that, I had never heard one thing from him.
Scott
He was probably advised to not say anything.
Elenas
I think a lot of people were advised not to say anything.
Scott
Is he still your favourite pilot?
Elenas
No. I don’t have any favourite pilots anymore.
Scott
He lost that status pretty quickly, huh?
Elenas
Yeah.
Scott
When you got that message from the owner, what’s your reaction to that? I mean, do you just say, “Oh, well I’m not flying this anymore” And was the pilot fired?
Elenas
No. So that email came out. The pilot was pushed back into flying and I put in my two weeks notice. It was all probably within the same day or within two days because I was done with it. They didn’t even have the decency to come to us, say, “Listen, we’re going to have him back flying with us. Are you guys okay with that? How do you feel about that?” Nothing was said to us. And he was brought back. No explanation. I have no idea why. I just put in my two weeks notice because I can’t work for a company that doesn’t value their employees.
Scott
And there could be, obviously, the chance that you’d be flying with him again.
Elenas
Yeah. Well, I told them right after I said, “I’m never flying with you guys again.” I told my supervisor, I said, “Do not put me on any flights.” And it was even getting hard just riding with people. We would ride, in closer locations, in large vans, and everybody would take turns driving and I was like, “I don’t even want anybody driving me anywhere.”
Scott
You don’t know how good of a driver somebody is either.
Elenas
Yeah. At that point, I was like, “This is too risky for me. I have too big of a family, and I can’t risk dying in a car crash or a plane crash,” and so I just walked away from it.
Scott
Did everyone file a lawsuit?
Elenas
No, three to four of us did.
Scott
Individually?
Elenas
No, we were together on it. So we ended up filing a lawsuit on it but, after a year and a half, two years, it took two years for the NTSB investigation to finalise their report, and then our lawyers jumped on it and they said, “The company is covered. You cannot sue for something like this because the pilot is actually a coworker.” So we couldn’t go any further with it. They just dropped it and said, “You have to go through workers’ compensation.”
Scott
What was the claim on the lawsuit?
Elenas
It was an injury lawyer, so we were just trying to get anything out of them because a lot of us had quit working for them and just backpay from when we quit. I mean, just anything to help with other bills that we had. A lot of us have other bills that weren’t paid for because working with workers’ comp is a nightmare, so we used our own insurance or just paid things outright such as massage therapy or psychology visits, therapy visits.
Scott
I would think, for something like this, the company must have been insured.
Elenas
Oh yeah, I’m sure they have to be.
Scott
I mean, not just for the replacement of the destroyed plane right, but for liability, for having all these employees in a plane crash.
Elenas
I had asked about compensation and the reply I got was that the cost of the new airplane was too far– it cost too much to replace the airplane to compensate the rest of the employees.
Scott
Wow. Just what you wanted to hear.
Elenas
Yeah, I mean, it just felt like we were a number in a group and you guys lived, you made it, be thankful and go back to work and if you don’t want to work here, then see you later. We’ll hire new people.
Scott
The pilot’s still flying. I wonder if the people that are his passengers know the story.
Elenas
Oh, they know it, yeah. They’re risking their lives. I think those planes should have a big black riding on the outside, “Fly at your own risk” because they should know. If I was them, I would not be flying with that company. No, there’s no way.
Scott
And I would think too, just from the pilot’s perspective, he must have a lot of self doubt now at least when he went back to flying anyway. thinking, “Man, what if I do that again?”
Elenas
I mean, I don’t think he’ll ever make that mistake again. I’m sure he will always triple, quadruple check to make sure that his landing gear is in fact down, but who’s to say if he’ll forget something else or another pilot will forget something else. I just don’t think they’re held to enough standards because they fly privately.
Scott
Have you flown again since then?
Elenas
I have flown, yep. I did have to obtain some medications, some Xanax to be able to fly again – I’ve never had to ever take that before, but it does help with flying. I still get really nervous. I get nervous when the plane lands. but I’m not going to let it stop me from getting out there and seeing the world.
Scott
That’s impressive. Some people would say, “No, never getting on a plane again.” And I can imagine certainly, at the Landing– I mean, everyone on the plane has never been in a crash. I mean, when I fly, it’s always kind of tense up and wait for that hit and then okay, good, we’re down and we’re safe once again.
Elenas
Yes. And with all these plane accidents happening, it’s just been crazy. I’m not going to let it stop me though.
Scott
Did you have any psychological symptoms or an actual diagnosis like PTSD?
Elenas
I had a couple psychologists help me and they said I did have PTSD just because I have– I used to have really bad night terror from it. A couple times I’d wake up just running through my house from a dream, like a sleepwalking but running, because I was having these terrible dreams, and then they started to go away, fewer and fewer. Now, I really wouldn’t say I have PTSD anymore just because my dreams have really subsided from it. But a year after that, I would have pretty bad dreams and I worked a lot with a psychologist.
Scott
Did you feel your treatment was complete then?
Elenas
I think so. I mean, I would’ve liked to have continued, at least, a couple times a month, but the cost is just astronomical with them, and I don’t feel I should have to pay for something that a company did to me, so I let it go and I work things out kind of on my own. I have my own faith and I’ve been able to do that on my own.
Scott
Do you still do the same type of work?
Elenas
No, I’m not working at all anymore. I kind of felt like I had only been working there for eight or nine months and I was off taking care of my children for eight years beforehand, and I went back to work for eight or nine months and this happened. So I think I’ll just stay home with my kids. I just feel that maybe, with a lot of your people you’ve had on podcasts, when you see death coming for you, I think it changes you as a person and this has totally changed me as a person and how I view things now. And I used to– I don’t want to say take more chances, but I feel like life is obviously short, so let’s just do it. If something makes you happy, just do it because it’s not worth just waiting around for whatever may happen. I feel like I’d take not dangerous chances, but just more better chances in life and– it’s hard to explain, but just seeing things differently.
Scott
It sounds like you’re living life deliberately now and enjoying the present and this moment.
Elenas
Yeah, exactly. It’s hard to explain, but that hits it right on the head. You can’t just wait around for things to happen, just do it and don’t fly private aeroplanes. Don’t fly privately unless you really know the pilot.
Scott
All right. Crazy story. I’m glad you made it through.
Elenas
Yeah, Thank you for having me.
Scott
I know for some people, going through something like this would mean they might never fly again. It’s like, okay – used up all my good luck on that one, not gonna do that any more. And that would be a completely valid position.
Sometimes with stories like this, I get comments or questions about the legal aspect. That part is still ongoing, so none of that can be talked about right now. Maybe in a few years if we do this as a Flashback episode, Elena can talk about how it all turned out.
Now I want to talk about something that I’ve seen come up a few times.
This has to do with reviews in Apple Podcasts. You might notice, I almost never ask for ratings or reviews. I hear other shows constantly saying “Don’t forget to leave us a 5 star rating and a review” and it just gets tiresome. So I don’t do that. But a lot of people click and leave a nice review anyway – and I do appreciate that.
But – what confuses me is when someone will go and write a review and comment or even ask a question about a particular episode. Like this one – this review was just left recently:
The subject is: Victoria’s Dad
And the review said this:
“My main question is, why didn’t Victoria seek charges or a confrontation with Uncle Robert? She’s expecting law enforcement or CPS to get her dad, but what about HER abuser? Makes no sense.”
Now, this person did rate the show 5 stars, so I appreciate that. But there are a few issues.
First, these are anonymous. The person leaving the review is “NurseHHR” which is just their user name for Apple Podcasts, so I have no idea who this is.
Second, anyone who reads this will almost certainly have no idea what story they’re talking or what the details are. Who’s Uncle Robert? What happened?
And third, there’s no way I (or anyone else) can respond. You can’t leave a comment on a particular review. So the questions are just floating out there, with no answers.
Like I said, I do appreciate the 5 stars, but if you have questions like this, or comments, or really anything to say about a particular episode, we have ALL of that in the Facebook group. In fact, a lot of the guests you hear on the podcast are actually in that group and so you can ask them questions directly. That’s all at WhatWasThatLike.com/facebook. So you’re certainly welcome to leave a rating and review, but for an actual discussion, come on over to the What Was That Like Facebook group and join the conversation with over 9000 other listeners.
Graphics for this episode were created by Bob Bretz. Full episode transcription was created by James Lai.
And now we’re gonna hear this week’s Listener Story. Every main episode ends with a story that has been sent in by a listener, just like you. And I would LOVE if you would just record a short personal story on your phone, like 5-10 minutes, and email it to me at Scott@WhatWasThatLike.com. Seriously, we all want to hear it!
This story is a nice reminder to enjoy each moment. Stay safe, and I’ll see you next week.
(Listener story)
My story is about a moment in my life when somebody made a big impact for me that, even today, I still remember. It was back many years ago when I was a middle-aged mom and I was taking my 13-year-old daughter to Maui, to the beach with the intent to snorkel. So we’re on the beach and we’re getting all of our snorkel gear on and our flippers, and we’re just cracking up because we know how silly we look with all this gear on and then attempting to get down to the water. Here we are with our flippers on, trying to walk backward down to the water, just joking and laughing and having the best time, and it was just such a great memory.
We were down in the water and we had a wonderful time looking at the fish in Maui and then, when we were done, we just hauled back up to our beach towels. When we got to the beach towels, I noticed that there was a note in my shoe, so I immediately went over and I wasn’t really expecting anything. I thought maybe it was a piece of trash or something, but there was a note in there for me and it simply said, “You are aging with grace.” That moment just stuck with me because I realised that somebody saw the value in me that I wasn’t caring what anybody thought about me, that I was just intent on having the best time I could with my 13-year-old daughter. And we did. We were having a good old time. I was concerned about anything around me, but just her and somebody saw that, and that meant so much to me that they saw the importance of just having a good time, letting go, being in the moment with your child, and that meant so much to me.
Well, just as I was about to show my daughter, I lifted up the note to say, “Hey, take a look at this.” And then the wind came up at that moment, grabbed it out of my hand, and it went flittering away, and I didn’t run after it. I just let it go and my daughter and I both just thought that maybe that’s the way it was supposed to be, that it wasn’t something for me to keep and keep looking at. It was just a very kind observation from a stranger that needed to just stay in my memory.