Bad Landings

Today I am discussing bad landings, but in more than one context.
First off, the flight home from St. Louis was AWFUL. The whole flight was unbelievably turbulent and I had to continuously pray that I wouldn't throw up on anyone. Not to mention, praying that we wouldn't crash. Multiple times our altitude dropped and I got that weird "wee" feeling you get when you drive over a big, unexpected hill. Or when you sail over the top of a great roller-coaster. This however, was not nearly as fun and I never once said "wee". As we were coming in for our landing, a decrease in speed was not felt and sent many passengers into a panic. Myself included. We were coming in at a dramatic angle and the man sitting next to me kept repeating, "Straighten up. Please straighten up." Our left rear tire hit the runway and we bounced off. Our right rear tire hit, we bounced. Finally, both tires hit at the same time and we were greeted by the runway. Passengers grabbed the seats in front of them to brace themselves agains the force and then held on as we finally reduced speed. Remember when you were 16 and learning to drive? You would hit the brake before you even knew how touchy it was and it would throw you and your passengers hurtling into your seatbelts? Yeah, so happened. When we finally came to a full stop, we all looked around at each other as if to say, "We made it?" The poor girl in front of me was white as a sheet. A dear woman across the aisle held her hand for majority of the flight and talked about random facts of life in order to distract her. The dear soul who had been sitting next to me said, "Interesting flight, huh?" I replied with, "Yes. Interesting landing." I then asked if he had been praying. He said yes with a somewhat sheepish grin. I prodded him more. "That I wouldn't throw up on you?" His grin grew as he nodded and said yes. :) We arrived safe and sound. I got off the plane and with hands shaking, called both of my parents to let them know that I had arrived. In movie fashion, I saw Edwin and Caitlin walk through the doors just as I was coming down the escalator. I went straight to Cait and gave her a big hug. "That was the worst flight EVER!" I was so glad to be on solid ground. We stood at baggage claim for a good half hour before we realized we were at the wrong carousel. Damnit. We had to go to the security desk and then back to an office where all unclaimed luggage gets hoarded. We found my bag and finally began the treck home. The wind had not let up at all and Edwin 'white-knuckled' it the whole way home. He did an amazing job, because I never even noticed that it was windy. I nodded off everynow and again and the next thing I knew, we were home. Home, Sweet Home.

On a completely different subject, I have been concidering changing my major to Journalism with an emphasis on Public Relations. I genuinely think this will make me happier than business ever could. However, I'm terrified. People always tell me I'm a good writer, but I have my own distinct style. I write like I talk and don't always use the appropriate punctuation. Or phrasing. And I worry that sometimes people compliment my writing merely to make me feel good. As much as I dearly appreciate that, I worry about it, because I am guilty of doing that. I dated a guy who I told all the time he was a wonderful singer because I knew it made him feel good about himself and I worried that he had a low self esteem. Now, I am haunted by the image that he may attempt music as a career and he will get laughed off the stage and that I will have had a hand in it. I don't want to be laughed off the job, people! And photography. There's another one. I love photography, but I am really good? What if everyone is telling me this because, "Oh, Liz needs something to make her feel good about herself." What if I really suck?! And in photography class on Tuesday I have to take 6 of my favorite photographs and have them critiqued. What if he laughs and is like, "You want to do what for a living?" What if I land myself in a job that I think I love and come to find out, I have zero talent for? Part of me thinks I should continue my mundane path of a Business degree and take the 'safe' route. The other part of me says, "Take a chance, Liz! For once in your life, be brave."