And then I became a pilot

Well not yet. Or maybe not ever. But I did take an introductory flying lesson yesterday, and I didn't cry, scream, panic or otherwise freak out. 

Chris gave me the flying lesson for Christmas because I have been questioning whether I could stand to fly in one of the small planes that we frequently see flying over our house. 

For some reason, I just kept wondering if I would like it, so the lesson was the perfect gift. 

I had been holding on to it since Christmas, and the feeling finally struck me. Late yesterday afternoon, I went to the little airport by our house and flew!

This is me at my house before I left for the airport. See the excitement?

I was a little early so I decided I would use their ladies room. Apparently, lady pilots like to be well groomed. 

Then we went outside, and I met my plane. And, my very nice instructor. He was super tall, and I couldn't imagine him fitting into that small plane.

This is where I sat.

A few of the other planes.

I don't have any photos from the air because I was really flying the plane. I made all the turns, took us higher or lower, and I even took some steep banks (that means turns in pilot lingo) where we were almost completely sideways. 

The best part was that I wasn't scared. I was amazed how much control you have, and it's completely different than how it looks from the ground. From the ground, it looks like this little bitty airplane totally out of control in the air, but when you're in the airplane, that's not how it feels at all. 

We even hit two pockets of turbulence and that wasn't bad because I just corrected for it with my steering. Being in control of the airplane, even though it was tiny, was a lot less stressful than sitting in the back of a big airliner and wondering what that bump was and worrying that things are shaking around. 

I'm not sure if I'm the next Top Gun, but I'm truly happy that I had the experience.