A few weeks before the video of Dr. Dao went viral and made global headlines, we booked five tickets with United Airlines. The Friendly Skies has since experienced a series of bizarre incidents. In the back of my mind, I wondered what awaited us and whether we would have a story of our own.
It was a no-brainer to book an inexpensive flight for 9 o’clock in the morning. However, when I had to set my alarm clock for 5 a.m., I felt the pain of that decision. On the other hand, it was not difficult to wake up the children. They were so excited about the trip that they were waiting to wake up as soon as they went down for the night.
After a swift ride to LGA and a smooth check-in process, we passed the security checkpoint uneventfully. (I have been pulled to the side a few times in the past for all sorts of violations, so I was always surprised when I could just…go.) Once we arrived at the gate, we settled down on a row of empty seats.
“Ted Cruz is right next to us,” my husband whispered in my ear.
“What?” I didn’t understand him. Did he say Tom Cruise?
“Ted Cruz. He is sitting right there,” he repeated and pointed at a middle-aged man wearing a pair of gold-rimmed glasses and a pair of pointy leather boots.
Ted Cruz?!
On March 24, 2015, I wrote the following in my journal,
“Speaking of politics…I was a little stunned when I read that Sen. Ted Cruz announced his bid for the 2016 presidency yesterday. His first stop was the largest Christian university in the world – Liberty University. The first candidate to make such an announcement is also the most conservative…”
Ten months later, on May 4, 2016, I wrote,
“Ted Cruz dropped out of the race. It will be either Mr. Trump or Lady Hillary for President in 2017. I am struggling with this…but then four years will go by quickly. Having an eternal perspective helps.”
You can then understand how bewildered I was when I found out Ted Cruz was only a few feet away from me. Discretely, I glanced towards him, and I realized why I have never spotted any public figures or celebrities in my life while my husband has seen plenty of their ilk.
“That’s not Ted Cruz. He just looks like him.” I said to my husband.
“No, it is him. I am very sure.”
Okay, if he is that certain, then I will be willing to make a fool out of myself.
The senator was having a bowl of oatmeal from Au Bon Pain, while chatting with a companion in a suit. I didn’t want to disturb their breakfast so I patiently waited. Meanwhile, I saw people walking by him, oblivious of who was in our midst.
“People in New York don’t want to have anything to do with him. They are just ignoring him.”
My husband assessed. I read about Ted Cruz’s sniping “New York values” comment during his campaign as a way to hammer Queens-born Donald Trump. That comment immediately set himself up as an enemy of the Empire State. But I think most average New Yorkers are just not sophisticated enough to recognize him. I almost didn’t recognize him. If it’s Lady Gaga, the whole place would have been turned upside down.
A young man stopped suddenly in his tracks. Surprised to see the senator, he snapped a picture of him from his phone.
“Lame,” I thought to myself.
As soon as Senator Cruz took his last bite, I grabbed my 8-year-old as a shield and walked towards this renowned stranger. I have never done anything like this in my entire life.
“Senator, it’s so nice to see you here. I have followed and supported you during your campaign. May I have a picture with you?”
He immediately stood up and nodded his head. He noticed my daughter, and I quickly introduced her,
“This is Emily.”
“How old are you, Emily?” he asked in a kind and friendly voice.
“Eight,” shyly she responded.
“I have a six-year-old little girl at home,” he added.
I am sure he missed her terribly.
My husband took a picture for all of us before asking him for another shot with him only together. Senator Cruz is only one year older than us, yet we felt like we were speaking to someone like Gandalf.
I exchanged some pleasantries with him and found out he was going home to Houston, Texas. Ted Cruz was going to be on our flight.
It didn’t surprise me that he’d check in first through Priority boarding. However, I didn’t see him in First Class after we were allowed on the plane. Where did Senator Cruz disappear to?
He disappeared into coach at row 21. Well, a row with extra legroom for an additional $49. My brother’s friend later quipped, “He could have been on Air Force One.”
A week later, it was me that whispered something to my husband during our flight back to New York.
“We don’t have a will.”
It has become inexplicably strange and normal that we ignore the flight attendants while they do their pre-flight safety demonstrations. However, our three kids did the exact opposite. They took out the emergency instruction manuals and attentively watched and followed directions. Feeling ashamed, I reached for my copy. Then I saw the picture below,
I wasn’t sure if I wanted to end up in the ocean like that. Honestly though, when did we ever hear about passengers that fell from the sky…and lived?
Call it a premonition. I was holding onto the armrests as this commercial jet bobbed up and down hard soon after taking off. At one point, there was such a strong jolt that many gasped in horror. I have been through airplane turbulence many times in my life, but never before did I feel this close to…heaven!
I took comfort knowing my three children were with us. Then I thought about sending an e-mail from my phone to someone. And I wondered who else has the key to our house.
I felt the plane was flying in a hurry, moving faster than usual. There was a mention of going the long way to avoid a thunderstorm, and of taking a shortcut “here and there” to make up for the lost time. Every now and then a female voice speaking as the First Officer would warn us of many “unexpected turbulence.”
An elderly woman wearing a hijab flipped through pages of the Koran, while her son in a button-down shirt and khaki leaned his head against the seat in front of him, looking like he was praying.
I am a Christian, yet I felt some peace in seeing him pray. “Someone, whoever, please just pray. This flight is rattling my nerves!”
I almost turned down the free coffee because I didn’t want to have it spilled all over me. I felt for the flight attendants as they still had to serve drinks and meals. I worried about the cart of hot and cold beverages that might tip over and fall on my kids. Later, a flight attendant would follow her own instinct to cut her service short just to sit down.
It was a stressful flight, to say the least. I couldn’t wait for this torment to be over.
In the final half-hour, I saw the earth lit up by what appeared to be streets of Queens. I breathed a deep, deep sigh of relief. We were almost home – if we could just land without a glitch.
Once the plane was on the ground, I immediately sent a text to my family in Houston. “Happy to be alive.”
Lugging our carry-on, plus an over-sized tote bag, our laptop case, and many backpacks, all five of us awkwardly climbed out of our seats and exited in a single file. But I didn’t expect Emily to poke her head into the cockpit just to say good-bye to the pilot. A red-faced, jovial captain turned around with a big smile, but I could only manage a wry grin…
As it turned out, we weren’t so lucky at the security checkpoint in Houston. I messed up again by packing our toiletries in our carry-on. I had stuff tossed out in front of me in the past, and I was beginning to feel anxious. The agent was courteous and gentle, but he still confiscated my facial cleanser and my husband’s L.A. Looks Mega X-treme Hold Gel. To add to the hassle, the machine selected me for the screening of electronic devices.
“You are randomly selected for the screening of electronic devices. May I see ALL of your devices please?” A TSA agent asked.
“I only have a phone.”
“Just the phone? How about iPad?”
“The iPad is with him,” I pointed at my husband behind me. For once I didn’t want to claim the iPad to be mine.
I probably shouldn’t disclose what he did exactly to my phone. It was strange – that much I can say!