名稱：flying Solo
內(nèi)容簡介：
Dear Arizona,
　　My mom and I are visiting my aunt in Houston. At first I was excited. But now my mom has a work event in Miami and will be flying to Houston from there. I'll have to fly by myself! Help!
　 —All Alone in Albuquerque

Dear All Alone,
　　When I read your letter, I thought I was reading about my life! Only in my case, I was going to visit my grandparents in Colorado (not my aunt in Texas), and it was my entire family who got the flu (not my mom who had a work event). But the part about having to fly in an airplane all alone?that was exactly the same!

“I’m going to stay home and take care of Mom and the little ones,” said my dad, “while you f ly to Poppy and Gran’s on Friday.”

“Wait—what?” I blurted. “I’m going all the way to Colorado by myself?”

“Yep,” said my dad. “It’ll be fun.”

I panicked. “You think f lying in a humongous airplane zillions of miles across the sky, all by myself, is going to be fun?”

“Come on, Arizona! Turn that frown upside down. Gran and Poppy are very excited about having special time with their favorite oldest grandchild.”

“Well, I’m excited about that part, too,” I said. “But even though I’m their oldest grandchild, there’s no way I’m old enough to go on an airplane without you guys.”

My dad looked at the clock. “Get some sleep, and we’ll talk about this in the morning.”

“I’ll probably have nightmares about the pilot being a firebreathing dragon and the passengers being three-headed monsters!”

“Wow! I’d like to see that,” said my dad. “But how about using the power of positive thinking to try to have a great dream instead of a rotten one?”

I sighed and got ready for bed. But once I was lying down, I just couldn’t get comfortable. I’d close my eyes, and, before I knew it, I’d be picturing the fire-breathing pilot and f light attendants. I’d have to open my eyes to shake the images out of my head.

My silly cat, Cow, had decided to sleep on my bed that night. And I could tell that my tossing and turning was keeping him awake. Finally, I scratched Cow under the chin and said, “OK, tonight we’re having happy dreams. No rotten dreams, right?”

Cow nodded and blinked three times quickly—which means “definitely yes” in Cow talk. Then he pawed at my quilt until he’d made a cozy cave to curl up in and dozed off to sleep.

I started wondering what kinds of dreams cats have. Do they dream of scratching up all the fancy furniture in the world without getting into trouble? Do they dream of playing with catnip mice, or of racing out the door when they’re not supposed to be outside?

Once I was in Imagination Land, I figured I might as well see if I could think some happy thoughts—you know, about the airplane. First, I turned the firebreathing pilot and crew into big friendly rabbits. Then I ordered all the three-headed monsters off the plane. Can you guess who came to sit in the empty seats after that?

Actually, you probably shouldn’t waste time guessing, because there’s no way you’d figure it out. The answer is hippos! Tiny hippos, each one wearing the cutest little outfit. One was in a business suit, another was in a police uniform, and the one sitting next to me was a tiny hippo nurse!

I fell asleep dreaming about the happiest hippos ever. And when I woke up, I felt way less stressed.

“So,” said Dad, “you feeling any better about your trip?”

“It’s funny,” I said, “but I think trying to have good dreams actually helped!”

So what I have to say, dear All Alone, is that it is possible to change the way you think about something. Instead of worrying, try to look on the bright side. And once you change your thoughts, you’ll realize that things aren’t so bad.

The real f light wasn’t quite as exciting as the one in my dream—but all in all, it went fine. The people who worked for the airline kept making sure I was comfortable and knew exactly where to go and what to do—so I actually didn’t feel so alone.

And get this: even though the passenger next to me wasn’t a tiny hippo nurse, she was this awesome veterinarian, which is an animal doctor, which, when you think about it, is kind of close to a hippo nurse!

Anyway, I’m glad I became braver, because it turned out to be the best vacation I’ve ever had. And f lying solo was a pretty big part of that.

Ciao for now,

Arizona