Recently, during an “atmospheric river” or “pineapple express” storm, I flew back to Monterey from visiting my mother in San Diego. Most of the flight was smooth. At one point, toward the end of the flight, we hit a pocket of turbulence that jerked us left to right and silenced all the chatting in the plane. Because I had looked at the weather forecast, I knew the wind would be at the greatest speed when we were trying to land. The prediction was 35-40 mph with wind gusts of 60-70 mph. We were not disappointed!
As we approached the Monterey airport flying over the ocean, I looked out the windows on both sides of the plane. At first I could not make sense of what I saw. There were huge patches of white in equal size as patches of dark-gray-blue. These were whitecaps the size of city blocks. At this point we were at a lower altitude and being tossed around a bit. My thought was I do not want to crash into the ocean and was relieved when we flew over the roofs of Monterey.
The plane dropped in altitude again in order to land at the Monterey airport. Each drop in altitude came with increased influence from the wind on the plane. I thought, of course, planes are aerodynamic, they are going to be affected greatly by the wind as it comes from any direction. As the plane came closer to the runway, the wind rocked the plane like we were dodging and glancing invisible-air boulders. Shortly before the runway, the plane was smacked with a sustained wind gust from the side. The plane slid sideways. The pilot quickly corrected the movement and then revved the engines to launch us into a higher altitude with less turbulence.
Silence. No one said anything. We all, like prisoners, awaited our next fate. The plane flew for a bit and then headed back over the ocean. The pilot came on the PA system. “Folks, nothing to worry about. We are going to make another try at landing at the Monterey airport.” Silence in the cabin.
Same experience as previously. After the second attempt, when we were back into a less bumpy air space, I thought to myself “I just want off this plane.” Next I thought “You cannot think like that. You need to keep yourself together!”
I had been staring at my feet praying, refusing to look out the windows. When I did look up, two seats ahead of me a woman was holding a hand carved wooden Jesus up in the air. The statue was bobbing with the bumping of the plane, above the seat as she held it for all to see. The young man in the seat in front of me held rosary beads.
I was incredibly relieved to hear the pilot say we were not attempting another landing in Monterey, but going onto San Jose to land. Compared to what we had just experienced trying to land in Monterey, the bouncy flight to, and landing in San Jose, were smooth. As soon as one of the plane’s landing tires made its first contact with the runway, the cabin cheered like sports fans!
Yes we landed. Yes we were all safe. And, yes our rides home were all in Monterey! Now it was time for logistics to get home. Passengers were discussing options with one another. People were talking to people they did not even look in the eye when they boarded. Everyone in the plane, having just experienced what felt like a life and death situation (One person said something about it being nice to be reminded of one’s mortality from time to time.), were no longer formal with each other in that ignoring sort of way we do when we are shoulder to shoulder with strangers. We became united in all experiencing, all at the same time, the same fearful experience. Instead of invisible shell-protected individuals, we were a collective of humanity.
I share all this as a backstory to the following message I received a week or so later. It was the ending to a personal message I was given:
“Amen. amen! All is just and good and the world is beginning to change in energy as all go towards awakeness. There is a shift, an ease. Yes, like in the plane after being scared, people are more open to others. Yes, this is true.”
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