21 years ago I reported to Atlanta, GA to start my career as a flight attendant. Eastern Airlines was on strike and shut down while I was training..... I was too young and naive to even pay attention or understand what that meant exactly. All I knew I was on a short term path until I found a job in the fashion industry; 2 years tops is what I thought.
21 years ago I had no idea how my life much my life would change.
I had not stepped foot on an airplane until I was 19 years old. I had been to a handful of states(all surrounding states of my home state of course) I was certainly not worldly or well traveled....actually to the extreme opposite. I grew up in a home that we barely even vacationed and when we did, it was the exact same place each trip and I had to take dramaine to get me there without throwing up.
I point this out because I am amazed that in 21 years I would say my life has done a 180' I have been pretty much all over the world. I have not only visited EVERY single state(more times than I care to say) but I have probably visited almost EVERY single city(that has a airport) in those states. I have visited most of Europe, a lot of S. America, Canada, some of Asia. I have missed Australia, Africa, and the Middle East. But in general I would say I am pretty worldly, and certainly well traveled. I have met people from EVERYWHERE, I have heard languages I didn't even know existed, I have cared for families on board that were coming home with a child they adopted(little did I know at the time) with their loved ones remains, taking their children to college, or grandparents to meet their first grandchild. I have been on military charters, professional sport team charters, I have probably had every single type of animal on board my airplane whether it be in the cabin or the cargo hold. If you were on my flight with a really cute dog....I have probably held it!!! LOL My year was made when I got to walk down and pet a baby while tiger on it's way to a zoo. I have flown with pilots that are war hero's, flight attendants that were studying to be doctors, or some that speak 9 languages, passengers on their way to argue their first case before the supreme court. I have had celebrities, and dignitaries(Lady Bird Johnson being one of my very favorite) the day I had Sandra Bullock and found myself nearly speechless(we know that doesn't happen often) and this was before she was even as famous as she is today. I had Kevin Kostner hand me a $10 bill to go see Dances with Wolves because I was 23, on reserve and REALLY poor and he couldn't believe that I had not gone to see his epic movie. No worries, I kept the $10 for gas money and to this day I still have not seen that movie. HAHA
I flew just 5 days after 9/11 with my 5 passengers in tow. I remember David asking me when I got to the hotel if I had felt nervous....it felt like it always did(comfortable) and since I knew our crew outnumbered our passengers; we knew we could take em if we needed too. I think at the time none of understood how much our job had changed.
I have flown in a time when we would give everyone on-board pretty much anything that the plane could fly without. Then flew when we had NOTHING to give and were charging for snacks!! I have passed out 100 decks of cards on one Laguardia-Ft. Lauderdale leg, passed out wings to the kids, taken pictures with people on their first flight, sat with nervous fliers, held crying children, let their mom's change their diaper on my jumpseat. Had people joining the mile high club while I am banging on the lavatory door:) I have flown when I worried that we were in such bad weather that the outcome might turn us into a USA today headline. I started flying during a time that we still had weight check. One of the first things I had to do when I interviewed was to hop onto the scale, and followed that by weighing every Monday morning while I was in training(those who didn't meet the weight max would receive a brown envelope that afternoon and be ushered out of the building...no I am not kidding) and then followed by weighing in each month that I was on probation. Wow things have changed in that dept, I think our uniform goes up to a 22 now!! We also had very strict uniform guidelines and our earrings could not be bigger than a quarter and we had to have 2 extra pair of hose in our bag and they would check when we reported for a trip. I have spent A LOT of holidays on the road, my first Christmas I sat on the floor of my Norfolk, VA hotel eating Chinese food ....crying and wondering why I had said I loved people, travel and didn't mind working weekends and holidays. LOL I have commuted more than half of my career. I have sat so many hours waiting in airports, airplanes and lounges that I would die if I knew that actual number.
I met my amazing husband on a flight(no it actually doesn't happen very often) I have taken my family on vacations that would have never been possible without our travel benefits, I have made lifelong friends from this job.
Twenty one years ago today I had no idea what I was doing or what was about to change in my life. I had a short term plan that turned into a lifetime career. I seriously had no clue what a gift and blessing I had been given. I was hired at a time that it was not easy to get this job, it was still a glamourous job 21 years ago:) All I knew I was just glad that I had a job within 3 months of graduating from college.
Most of you know that I took a leave of absence 6 years ago to start what we thought was a quick adoption. I thought 5 years leave would give us the time to get our adoption completed, get home and almost if not in enrolled in kindergarten. Much to the contrary that did not pan out. Thankfully I guess I had that 5 years. By the time I held Hayden for the first time I had been off for 3 years. When I held her I looked at David and said I am never leaving this child, I am not getting back on the airplane. I also did not think that opportunity would ever arise again as the airline industry was in such a mess, we were buying another airline etc...I felt as though I had had a great run and it would be a great past to talk about with Hayden someday. But then the opportunity came for me to go back last Feb and I did....not without hesitation. I went because I knew my returning would afford us the opportunity to show Hayden the world as we had shown Taylor and Connor. I knew if we wanted to be able to return to Taiwan or to China(to see Shiyu) on any regular basis I needed my pass privileges, and my hope was to come back with my 20 1/2 years and hold on until I could retire at 25 years. Then I would retire with my passes and the world would be ours.
After 3 weeks of training in Utah with Hayden and a nanny in tow I returned and knew this return would be worth the reward Now fast forward a few months and I still had not flown a trip(leaving H was just too hard) and I was able to hold trips in NYC that other flight attendants wanted and I was blessed that all of my trips were being picked up. Then I read an email that literally had me almost laid out on the floor. They had planned big growth, the economy was better, fuel was better, but then the earthquake in Japan happened, fuel rose, the economy took another turn for the worse. I read because of these factors they had hired and returned too many employees and cutbacks were necessary. I was one of 55,000 employees eligible for early retirement.......huh, what???
So I knew back in June that I would end my career with 21 years and 5 days of seniority. I will officially retire from flying Sept 1, 2011. The summer has flown by, and I still have not flown a trip since I returned to flight status. I have had a back issue going on most of the summer, and the few trips I had scheduled did not pan out as I couldn't even bend over. I had been scheduled to fly Rome today(27th) although it was picked up by another flight attendant weeks ago, I would not have gone out anyway with Irene bound for NYC. I must laugh that I will always remember my very first trip where laid over in San Fran and NYC and my last trip was sched for Rome(one of my very favorite cities) It has been an amazing ride, I have been blessed beyond measure by this career. I have so much to share with Hayden(who thinks she is a F/A and the keeper of the d@lta cookies....come on admit it, everyone loves those biscoff cookies) about the travels and the people I have met.
I am grateful, and leave with no regret....but do feel a little melancholy. I am so happy to stay at home with H right now, and I think she needs me home with her. But man I have had some amazing memories from a step I took blindly 21 years ago today!!!!
So at 44 I am 5 days from retirement. Makes this 21st anniversary a little extra special, and yes I know some of my family and friends are reading this and are probably in shock...I have told almost no one at this point. So don't be shocked, be thrilled for us and more importantly be thrilled for Hayden who will still get the opportunity to see the world....much earlier than her mama did:) Taiwan will now be a regular visit for us.
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