above it all

so it was elsie's first plane ride and daddy's first trip with girl. the week before departure was used to explain the physics of flight and logistics of travel and airport insanity. elsie seemed to understand completely. it was a shaky start. our morning flight was grounded due to inclement weather in atl. so we sat on the plane. hot, cramped, confused. the backpack full of a week's worth of distractions was depleted in 3o min. please let us take off. prayers were answered. off we went. "fast and loud". nervous laughter and true giddiness. priceless parent/child moment. quickly to 10K feet. now what? peanuts and ginger ale, of course. thank you tired flight attendant. the drop down tray table totally trumped the g-force on take off. the rest of the trip spent explaining "we only use the table for snacks and then it goes up, or the flight attendant will not be happy". on the return trip, immediately after boarding, requests (many and frequent) were made to let down the table. "after we take off and are up in the air," daddy says. no sooner had the wheels left the ground "daddy can we let the table down now?". but overall an amazingly good trip. would and will do it again. one of those many moments daddy found himself amazed that this was his little girl and that he was capable of such things.