My First Flight

"Republic Tower. This is Cessna three-niner, two-niner Echo holding short runway one with information Papa." "Three-niner, two-niner Echo you're second in line for takeoff." "Three-niner, two-niner Echo, Roger."
This is the conversation that takes place right before I take off for an experience of a lifetime. It is my trusty blue and white Cessna 172, the air traffic controller and I. The serious and professional tone of the air traffic controller's voice as it crackles through my sweaty headphones, sends me into a stark reality of the excitement in flying an airplane for the first time.
I begin to crawl my way around the twisted runaways as though I am a mouse stuck in some scientists’ maze. I finally find my “cheese” prize, otherwise known as runway 11L, and take my place in line behind an executive Leer jet. While waiting for my turn, I feel beads of cold, sweat trickle down the side of my face in anxiety of what was about to come ahead of me. Suddenly th...