Leaving on a Jet Plane

This evening, I will board a Southwest flight to Las Vegas, Nevada.  I am very excited to be going to Las Vegas, but I absolutely hate to fly.  Well, let me rephrase that....I absolutely hate take-off.  Flying is fine and landing is okay, now that I've seen some successful "belly landings".  But as the plane taxis down the runway and gains speed for take-off, my hands sweat, my body gets hot, and I basically have a panic attack.  I try to control my fear with distractions or good thoughts or a book, but usually I just end up counting to 100 slowly until we're high in the air and I can begin to relax.  I really wish I didn't have this fear.  I mean, I did take college physics...2 sememsters of it...so I understand the physics of flying.  I just cannot help but think that if something were to go wrong during take-off, the time to adjust before hitting the ground is pretty small.  If we're 10,000 feet in the air and something goes wrong, there is time to fly around and make corrections or an emergency landing, right?  So I will once again try to relax before my flight and try this "mind over matter" stuff I keep talking about and maybe I will not be so anxious.  Yes, I've tried medication...I'd rather have a short panic attack than take Xanax again.  UGH!

Oh, yes, we're going to LAS VEGAS tonight!  Hurray!  I am really excited!  We are staying at Caesers Palace this time.  And I won't be able to blog about our trip, because we all know, "What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas."  :)