The Reluctant Flyer

There are times when something is happening in your life or you're having a conversation with someone and you think, "This is a bloggable moment." I had one of those experiences flying home on the redeye flight from Las Vegas to DC this week.
I expected an uneventful flight considering everyone should be sleeping, but I was wrong.
Because we get the leftover seats, I rarely get to sit by my kids when we fly. But I was only one row away from Selena, so I asked a lady to trade seats with me since I knew Selena would be more comfortable sleeping on me than trying to sleep sitting up.

As I took my seat next to Selena, the man sharing our row leans over to me and says, "Just so you know, I'm a very nervous flyer. I took a couple Xanax so I should be fine. But if I act strange, that's why."
As I looked in his eyes which were very close to my face, he did have a glazed look going on. But other than that he seemed like a normal man.
Then he got talkative and told me how he hates flying, but does it all the time because of his job. I told him to just think of it like a roller coaster ride. Then he said he hates roller coasters and any kind of ride that goes fast. He then mentioned how he shouldn't be like this since he's an officer in the military and has done two tours in Afghanistan.

I said, "And flying on this plane is freaking you out?"
He told me how his dad was a pilot, but his mom would never let the kids fly because it scared her and she's still never been on a plane.

As we took off, he had his head down between his legs and was mumbling to himself. Then he'd sit up, grab at his hands, and put his head back down again. Part of me wanted to comfort him and the other part wanted to say, "Dude, relax!"

Once we were in the air he listened to his iPod, had his head pillow and I assumed he slept, because that's what I was trying to do.
We didn't talk again until we started to land. At this point he's looking out the window, rocking back and forth in his seat while mumbling to himself. As the plane landed, it was loud like landings usually are and there was some jerking. He did not enjoy this and made a more audible moan while he put his head between his legs again.
Now, I don't get nervous when I fly. But even if I did, I was so fascinated watching him I wasn't even thinking about the possibility of something going wrong.
He was still nervous and mumbling as we were coming to a stop. At this point I grabbed his arm and said, "It's okay. It's over."

He said, "I know. I don't know why I do that every time. I should just sleep. But did you see the lightening storm we were going through?"

What? I thought he was sleeping during the 5 hour flight, but apparently he was checking for danger out the window. "No. I was sleeping. Why were you looking? You should've kept your eyes shut."

He said, "I can't. I have to have total awareness of the surroundings."
Then he asks me if I've heard of Tourette syndrome. I told him I had. And he said he also had that, which didn't help his situation.
He said he's here in DC for a week and then has to go through the flying torture once again.

I must say he was the most intriguing passenger I've sat next to. I've heard of people having anxiety when they fly, but I've never seen it firsthand. And this man was medicated! I can't imagine what he'd be like if he didn't have those pills to relax him.
I wanted to tell him that I was going to blog about him and if I could take his picture, but I didn't want to add any more stress to his day.