[Freeda]

I flew without any fear at all until in my late 20s I had a very scary flight where our plane couldn't land because of near tornado conditions on the ground, and we circled for hours in turbulence, eventually also running into a fuel shortage. Yikes!!

It took me a few years to stop fearing flying (I still flew, I just flew with fear), but I read some books - one is called White Knuckles (I think) and one is called Fear of Flying. There are probably newer ones. They helped me because they provided logical knowledge about aeronautics (from a lay standpoint), statistics, etc.

What probably helped me more than anything else, though, was what my beloved Jewish then mother-in-law told me. She told me that when the plane was preparing to lift off, to just close my eyes and imagine G_d's hand lifting up the plane into the air; and later gently returning it to the ground, when landing. I know that this may seem a little corny to some, and it did to me, too, when she told me that. But I tried it anyway and its imagery provided me emotional comfort, which I needed in addition to the 'intellectual' knowledge I had gained from the books.

I now fly without any anxiety; even the bumps, I have just learned to think of as natural, same as bumps in the road when we are riding in a car. I know that there is risk, but there is risk in anything we do - even in staying home.