Aloha Friday: A question of fearful proportions

As our Disney World trip approaches, I find myself getting nervous. It’s not the massive packing that worries me. Honestly, B takes care of most of that. She’s much more organized with that than I am. Were it up to me, we’d likely arrive and find that I forgot to pack pants for the boys. (Ok, maybe I’m not *that* bad.)

What worries me is the flight. Specifically, the take off and the landing. As I’ve mentioned before, I have a fear of falling and of plane take offs/landings. They just get me nervous. I know that fatal crashes are rare. In the post I linked to, I had done some research and found 10 accidents with fatalities in the 5 years prior to 2008 (when the post was made). However, there were about 52 million commercial flights in the US during that same time. All things considered, 0.0000002% fatality risk is pretty good odds. Still, I’m nervous.

So my Aloha Friday question to you is: Do you get nervous on airplanes? If so, how do you handle it? If not, what do you have a fear of?


Thanks to Kailani at An Island Life for starting this fun for Friday. Please be sure to head over to her blog to say hello and sign the MckLinky there if you are participating.

Aloha Friday by Kailani at An Island Life

Aloha #23

Of Skepticism and Being Mean

I’m a fan of skepticism. Really, I am. I was reading a post recently about a necklace that supposedly cured eczema and I thought how ridiculous that might be that a necklace would cure a skin condition that it didn’t even touch. In cases like this, skepticism means looking for scientific evidence that a certain product works or doesn’t work. However, one thing skepticism should never involve is being mean.

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Not So Wordless Wednesday: Clowning Around And Giving Thanks

Yes, I know that Wordless Wednesday posts are supposed to be, well, wordless, but I felt that this one needed some words.  After all, this is not only my "Wordless Wednesday" post, but also my "What I’m Thankful For" post.  Therefore, in no particular order:

My Wife

I’m thankful every day that B has been in my life.  She’s such a wonderful and caring person and I love everything about her.  She’ll deny it left and right, but she’s also incredibly sexy.  (Yes, you are B!)  I’m even more attracted to her today than I was the first moment I laid eyes on her.  (And trust me, I thought she was very attractive then also!)  I don’t know what I’d do without her in my life.  So thank you, B for being such a great wife and friend to me and such a great mother to our boys.  Speaking of our boys….

My Boys

I couldn’t have asked for two better kids.  Ok, there are times when they’re getting into trouble when I might think I could have , but still they are good kids.  NHL rarely gets into trouble at school and loves learning.  He enjoys spending time with me, B or just playing with JSL.  JSL loves helping people out.  He’ll actually get upset and shout "I help Dada!" if I don’t need his help.  He adores his older brother and loves spending time with him.  The little copycat looks to his brother constantly for cues on how to act and what to say.  (This does lead to us telling NHL to stop doing something and then immediately having to tell JSL to stop also…. cute though it may be!)  I’m so glad that they love each other and us so much.  Every day when I go to work, I wish that I could spend more time with them and every day when I’m packing up to leave, I look forward to seeing them soon.

My Mother

First off, I’m also thankful for my father, sister and other friends and relatives, but this year I’m particularly thankful for my mother.  Last week, she had a little accident.  And by little, I mean she almost died.  She was in her attic cleaning things up and fell.

Now, their attic isn’t exactly safe.  You get to it via a fold down ladder in the garage.  That staircase is about as old as I am (i.e. over 30 years old).  Once you get into the attic, you can’t just walk around.  The floor of the attic is thin enough that it can’t stand the weight of a person.  You need to balance on support beams which run all along the attic.  Years back, my father actually fell through the attic floor and got wedged in the hole he made.  His legs were dangling down in the garage, a sight which was scary then but funny in hindsight.

Anyway, my mother was up there cleaning near the ladder.  The details are a bit sketchy, but best I can make out, her foot somehow went through the thin flooring and she lost her balance.  She fell headfirst towards the ladder.  She hit her head on the ladder and skidded across the concrete garage floor.  Luckily, she wasn’t home alone.  A family friend was with her and called 911.

It could have been a lot worse.  She fell a total distance of about 9 feet (maybe more) onto a concrete floor.  She could easily have been dead.  Plus, she hit the ladder with her head so she could have snapped her neck and been paralyzed for the rest of her life.  In the end, she had a concussion (blacked out as she was headed for the ladder and came to on the ground), a couple of broken fingers, a torn up ear and scratches all over her face.  She’s very, *VERY* lucky!

She’s recovering slowly, but surely.  She’s still dizzy at times and needs to take it easy for awhile.  However, the doctors’ don’t think that any permanent damage was done.  I’m very thankful that my mother is alive and (relatively) well.

I hope everyone has a happy and healthy Thanksgiving!

Aloha Friday: Apples and Honey

Tomorrow begins Rosh Hashana, the Jewish New Year. We’ll be spending the next two days in temple, praying, but also eating. It has been said that the Jewish Holidays tend to revolve around food (either feasting or fasting). To some degree, this is true. Rosh Hashana’s traditional foods include a challah bread (round instead of the usual straight line) with raisins, some form of “new” fruit (pomegranates are a favorite), teiglach (a crunchy dough boiled in honey) and, of course, apples and honey.

My Aloha Friday question is: Do you have any food related traditions?

Bonus Aloha Friday Question: Have you ever eaten apples & honey? If not, try it! If you have, have some more anyway!

Here’s wishing everyone a sweet year!


Thanks to Kailani at An Island Life for starting this fun for Friday. Please be sure to head over to her blog to say hello and sign the MckLinky there if you are participating.

Aloha Friday by Kailani at An Island Life

Aloha #5

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