Runway Ruminations
by Steven P. Velasquez Sept. 28, 2013 He sat in seat 11 at the window before the right wing (no pun intended) of the aircraft. The flight attendants smiled and silently illustrated the narrated safety directions. An American Airlines aircraft was parked beside him awaiting their passengers and cargo while the " Gate Gourmet " trucks fed the craft from the ground below. His plane began to taxi passing " Air India ," " Virgin ," and one plane with the NY JETS logo on the runway. He had navigated the roadway beneath the aircraft dozens of times in his mobile intensive care unit, but this time was different, this time he was a passenger and not a paramedic. As the attendant, who remarkably looked like his daughter Nicolette, gestured to the exits, his eyes welled up with tears and he wasn't quite sure why. Nicolette Velasquez teaches a CPR class for the deaf using American Sign Language (ASL) The plane briskly accelerated and i...