Sole Survivor

Sitting with my Mom on the flight, I could hardly contain my excitement, flying from Lima to Pucallpa, Peru, to meet Dad and friends for Christmas, Sitting on my seat by the window, noticed heavy black clouds we flew in, We stayed calm but shortly thereafter, from all directions lightning did flash, I heard people start to panic, as the plane shook and our belongings went sailing, My Mom nervously said "hopefully this will go alright," I spied over the right wing a blinding white light, not knowing exactly what was happening, I lose all sense of time as the airplane nosedives, my head and ears fill with the deep roar of the planes debilitating engine, Mom calmly says, "now its all over," and seconds later I'm outside the plane sailing, still attached to my airplane bench seat, I'm still awake as I make my descent, free falling 2 miles to the peruvian jungle, feeling like a spinning maple seed, I lose consciousness while plummeting into the jungle canopy, when I awake I get out of my seat, amazed that I'm still alive and intact, my injuries were a broken collarbone, swollen eye and deep gash on my calf, I'm disoriented and badly concussed, amazed that I'm able to get on my feet, I searched the area for survivors and something to eat, finding candy that had dropped from the plane, I consumed them with a hope of survival sustaining, Started walking and swimming in the stream, this survival knowledge from my parents was keen, along the way came upon 3 corpses, checking to see if one is my mother, none of them were thank God although my thoughts afterwards were only morbid, swimming and walking for 11 days straight, came upon a boat, and thought I was hallucinating, it leads up to a small hut, to which I had little energy and crawled up, sleeping and resting in it overnight, some peruvivan men arrived next morn and told them in spanish my plight, they transported me by their boat to a lumber station, where a local pilot flew me to a local hospital, and where I smile and cry to see my Dad was eagerly waiting… Addendum: This poem is based on the true story of Juliane Koepcke who was the sole survivor of LANSA flight 508 on December 24, 1971. These type of survivor stories always continue to amaze me! They say the storms updraft is why she landed safely in the jungle, or her guardian angels help perhaps?