Go back to when I was a young girl and sitting in my high school career class I was asked what did I want to be when I grow up? I had two avenues I wanted to maneuver through. One was being a hairstylist and the other was being a flight attendant. Either way, I knew that all the times I was put in the hallways of every single level of school I attended…that I was meant to mingle with people as a career! My poor momma and daddy wore themselves out trying to keep me quiet and not talk so much in school. I always got that good ole ‘Unsatisfactory’ behavior mark for talking. I think my teachers finally gave up. If you put me in the hall, I did not care! I was talking to the peeps in the hallway! I wanted conversation, I wanted to know how that person was doing and I wanted to know that I could put a smile on their face. It was the most dominate thing that kept me in trouble in school. My daddy said I ‘could talk the devil out of his pitchfork’. Sometimes, I think that devil just knew to give it to me but that’s an entire book…not a blog! Hahaha
It seems that God had graced me with this wondrous, artsy, creative talent that I could do some pretty awesome things with hair and it come easy. It was so easy I become so bored in class. I just wanted to get out there and create! I wanted to show the world what God had given me. Then, this one day I decided to quit going to beauty school as we called it back in the day. I was so annoyed with it but yet my instructors knew I was good at what I did. They believed in me, my family believed in me and I believed in me but I was as stubborn as a mule. So, I did quit for one day. I ended up graduating from beauty school and started a life long career of being a hairstylist. I have been creating, shaping, coloring and expanding my talents for the last twenty-three years.
When things in my life started to change then naturally of course, so did I. When I moved to Raleigh, NC several years ago, I quickly found myself taking my lunch times and my down times at the observation deck of Raleigh-Durham airport. It was my love to see those tubes of metal take off and make it seem so flawless. I played a guessing game wondering where each one was going, making destinations up in my head. I was jealous. I wanted to be on that plane. I wanted to be a passenger, the flight attendant or even the pilot. It all fascinated me to the point that I wanted more in my life.
A very dear friend of mine who worked as a traffic controller, took me and the kids up to the top. We were in such amazement to see all of the hard work that is carefully orchestrated behind the scenes. It was so well planned that it was complicated to understand so we just watched with eyes that danced across the room with excitement. Somehow while I was up there, I couldn’t help but here Top Gun music in my head…it was my other part of heaven.
Soon, it would be back to my reality of being behind the chair and I would keep dreaming of what it would be like to be a flight attendant. Something that has stayed with me for years. I guess I could blame my mom on some part but in a good way…a very good way. She too wanted to be a flight attendant but sadly that did not happen for her so I was going to make her proud of me. She has a love and fascination for planes just as I do…does this mean I am born to share my love of people from way up in the skies, going from destination to destination? I will take it as a sign!
As life would have it, things changed and doors opened. It was on my flight to Amsterdam that the flight attendant who shared my passion encouraged me to apply and never give up. She had only known me for a few hours but said she could see the passion in my eyes when I spoke of such a lifestyle. Then there was that word. Lifestyle. How in the Sam Hill was I going to have that kind of lifestyle and be a single mom? I pushed it to the back of my head. It didn’t stay there long. I think it was about half of a minute.
Google become my best friend. I searched out airlines, their websites and like a senior citizen depositing quarters into a slot machine in Vegas, I was uploading my resume and telling the airline industry that they needed me! I was just what they needed up there in the sky. I was an angel once in a Christmas play…maybe if I put that on my resume they would surely see that it was meant for me to be in the sky? I decided to leave that part out but I was pouring my heart and soul into those applications and resumes.
I had a few interviews and then I got this one particular interview. I was sick with the flu when they needed to interview me. I was like…really?? Oh well! Lets go and maybe I get brownie points for showing up sick. It had to be a positive…right?
Have you ever been in the bed and checked your email to find something so exciting you shot up as if you were a ninja? That was me a couple of weeks after my interview with the airline. They were interested in me and I was on cloud nine. I had to read the email twice to make sure I was really reading it correctly. A couple of more weeks, documents and I was in. I had finally reached that milestone in my life to be a flight attendant.
I took off to training, endured sickness before I went and then become sick while in training and had to come home. I was devastated but knew I could go back. That time has come and I am going back to finish what I had started.
I am not a glorified waitress…those do not exist no matter where you go. I am a woman with a passion for life and a passion to really make people happy when they are around me. Being a flight attendant is more than serving you a beverage. It is making sure you are aware of the safety that accompanies you when fly. It is making sure that if you have a medical emergency, then I know how to act promptly to help save your life. It is knowing how to react quickly and efficiently in the event of an evacuation. It is your life in my hands and I take that seriously.
We all fly for different reasons. It doesn’t matter if you are coming or going. Each of us have a story to tell. I want to be able to connect with my passengers so that no matter what kind of day they have had, whatever they are facing…I want to be the one in their day that possibly did something nice for them and made them smile. It is my purpose to be able to share my smile with all the countless people I will meet along the way.
I hope that if any of you are flying that I get the honor to be your flight attendant. I want you to know that if you see me in the skies, please know that I am already smiling just for you!
Love, Hugs & Smiles 🙂
The Sun Will Set To Rise 