I'll get by with a little help from my friends

When traveling, one does come to depend on the kindness of strangers. God forbid you know me, because rely is not the word for what I will do to you. Last week I attended the big meeting. I made it to the very end without incident. It was shocking. Until. Until it was time to get on the big bus to go to the airport. I get carsick and generally do not do well on these big buses. I took a Dramamine, thought I would be fine.

My friend and I (we will call her "D") get on the bus. There are no seats up front, which is where I usually try to sit, but I assume that's okay because I've medicated myself. Wrong. By the time we get to the airport I am breathing in through the nose, out through the mouth, we have a plastic bag at the ready, and I really am about to throw up. "D" is petting my arm and holding my hand, saying encouraging things like "I can see a plane, we are definitely getting close".

We finally reach the airport, where I think, "okay, okay, I'm fine, this is fine". Not fine. The car sickness lingered, then I ramped myself into a full on panic attack. Poor "D". We had to sit down before and after security, I had to sit down on the floor with the plastic bag on the tram/train thing that takes you from terminal to terminal.

We get to the gate and encounter another friend/co-worker who also helps me immensely. She gets me a sprite, hugs me while I burst into tears, shields me from other work people, and even muscles us a medical pre-board pass. I can only imagine how hard this was to convince them that I was sick enough to need to pre-board, but not too sick to fly.

She also asked the flight attendant to touch the outside of the plane as we were boarding (my superstition-I must touch the plane and certainly anyone flying with me must touch the plan, really the more people who touch the plane the better), and distracted me with a People magazine- "Well, look here, Cari Underwood is getting married, let's get to the bottom of this".

About half way through the flight it all subsided (with help from the pharmacy in my purse). A huge thank you to my friends and co-workers. Without them I'm convinced I would still be at the airport, huddled in a corner crying and dry heaving into the plastic bag. When you work with me, you wear many hats. Counselor, friend, and last week, nurse.