Free Range Lyra

Speaking of free range kids. Lyra took her first solo airplane flight today. She flew from Milwaukee to Minneapolis (a 55 minute flight). Northwest allows children to fly solo from the age of 5. A couple caveats are: the flights must be non-stop (after 8 she can fly with a connection), it cannot be on the last flight of the day, and we have to pay for the escort service. No surprise there - since you pay for everything on the airplanes these days.

When we were in Minneapolis it was a great time visiting with family, but not a lot of chance for one on one time with Grammy and Grumpy. So, we discussed it there that Lyra would fly back for a long weekend and stay with them. When we consulted with her she thought that would be a good idea.

But somewhere along the lines, I think she didn't understand that she'd be flying alone. So, when we were in Milwaukee and talking about it, she started to get pretty nervous about being on her own. As I talked to her, I think she had the idea that she'd have to navigate the airport on her own. Like we'd just pull up to the Departures area and drop her off! So, we spent a lot of time talking about how Russell would be able to take her up to the plane jetway and that Grammy and Grumpy would be waiting at the door on the other end. Plus, she'd have someone to help her find her seat and there would always be someone to help her if she needed anything. It took a few days of talking about it and I wasn't sure that she'd finally be ok with doing it.

Turns out, she did great! On the airplane, she was seated next to two older women - which is good because she can have a little bit of stranger anxiety around men. I asked her if she was nervous and she told me that she was only nervous when the boys wanted to speak to her. I asked if those were "boys" who were working on the plane and she said yes. Grammy told me that she was the last off the plane and as the passengers were getting off they kept asking, "Are you the grandparents of that little girl who's on the plane?" "Yes, we are!" they said. Many people were very impressed with how well she did.

Well, she's no stranger to airplanes. She's logged a lot of hours in the air. She knows the routine. Now she'll be asking to do it all the time!