Breaking Through The Clouds

I am not a real big fan of flying. I know it’s safe, but I still have a bit of uneasiness when I fly, especially when the air is rough, the plane gets tossed around and the pilot is silent.

Years ago, I was on a flight heading out of Chicago. The weather was pretty bad. It was summer and there were some very nasty storms all through the area.  Heavy rain, thunder and lightning, high winds – all of the stuff that makes for a fantastic and thrilling storm.

But not for good flying.

We were on the tarmac and the pilot found an opportunity to get us airborne.  As we were about to take off, he announced very directly that this would be a very turbulent ascension, to stay in our seats and keep our seatbelts on. He also told the flight crew to do the same. Yikes.  And then we took off – you know how it works – there’s the initial thrust of speed and then the continued acceleration until the plane just had to fly. Seemed like it was an eternity before the nose lifted, and then we were quickly in the air, feeling like we were going straight up. We couldn’t see anything through the black and grey clouds. The rain was pouring all around us as we bounced, swayed, dropped and pushed through the clouds. Logically, I knew we were good. But emotionally, I was anxious, and even a little scared. Especially with no one talking.

And then, after what seemed like an eternity, we broke through the clouds. And we were blessed immediately by sunny skies, and smooth, clean air. Everything settled down. We leveled off and eventually the pilot allowed us to move about the cabin.

And that’s life. Just above or outside the storm we are in, there are sunny skies. There is smooth air. And there is beauty everywhere.

We’re dealing with some pretty heavy, daunting and ambiguous times with COVID-19. We have to learn to push through these challenging times. As long as we keep moving forward, or as Dori said in “Finding Nemo” – “Just keep swimming” – we’ll see those sunny, blue skies once again. 

Because, while I was in that plane, fighting through that crazy storm, I knew that beautiful sky was up there somewhere. We just had to keep moving forward with purpose, courage, and confidence that we’d get there. And we did.

And we will now.