Debby Buck DeJonge featured in Grand Rapids Magazine October 26th 2023.
Editor’s note: When local author Debby Buck DeJonge told me she had won an airplane ride in a raffle, I asked if she could write about it and share photos. The following is her unabridged account of her high-flying adventure.
Some experts in the field of Longevity subscribe to the notion of doing something “scary” to increase one’s lifespan. Halloween doesn’t count, either.
My longstanding fear of flying was born organically on a trip to Huatulco to attend the annual Southern Clinical Medical Society meeting. The plane bucked and jerked with dinners flying on their own accord, and eventually winded up dropping, as was reinforced by the pilot’s own voice commanding us to prepare to crash. None of the aforementioned was previously brought to light. Rather, it was the usual wresting match “Sky Cop Cindy,” over the size of my carryon. Apparently, size does matter!
Nowhere did any airline representative school us in the fine art of “crashing.” Safe to say, we survived, however, that nagging fear reared its ugly head whenever the “T” word erupted over the intercom, causing post traumatic flying disorder. Like other good sports, I like to turn the other cheek so when the opportunity arose to see the magical color show that Michigan provides from a cockpit of a topnotch private pilot, color me in!
