. . . Leaving on a Jet Plane

I have always had a fascination with airplane's.  Once I got my drivers license I loved going out to the airport and sit there and watch as the airplanes would land and take off.  There was this great place and the end of the runway I could park my car and the planes would fly right over the top of the car.  Vaarrrooom!  The rush and speed of the airplane as it passed over the top of me!  I wanted so bad to be in one of those and to go 'somewhere'!

 My very first experience with flying was a trip my Dad asked myself and my sister Ruth to go on.  We were going to go in my Dad's company plane and visit my sister Nancy in Portland for the day.  It was winter time and as luck would have it we had a MAJOR snow storm.  I was a little, ummmm - OK, A LOT scared about flying in this small jet in all this snow!  Needless to say the trip was cancelled that day and we delayed the flight.  But when we finally flew out I was still a little scared.  I had the barf bag clutched tightly in my hand the whole trip there!  (I am still teased about this fact to this day!).

My next experience came a little later when the Credit Union I was working for asked me to fly to Madison Wisconsin.  I was to go there to learn how to build and create the software for our Mortgage department which would enhance our closing documents.  Once again I flew during the coldest month of the year - January, and I was flying to an even colder state.  I had a connecting flight from Chicago O'Hare into this little airport in Madison.  I was there for a whole week alone and a brave girl!  It was such a great opportunity and experience and I decided that flying was incredible and I wanted to do more of it!

 When Southwest Airlines was opening their new hub in Salt Lake City, my daughter Amanda went for an interview and got a job as a trainer in their call center.  One of the perks of her employment was she and her immediate family could fly anywhere Southwest flew, we just had to fly standby.  And we did this all the time.  There were days when we would fly out on the early morning flight, spend a day for example at Sea World in San Diego and then take the 2nd to last flight back home (there was reason to our madness of the 2nd flight - if no room on the flight we could most likely get on the next one as a standby customer to get home).  We flew EVERYWHERE!  I loved it!

This morning on my way into work I traveled along Redwood Road and caught the incoming flight pattern during my commute.  Have you ever noticed during those flight patterns how several airplanes are lined up - one behind the other as they synchronize their landings?  My daughter Amanda and I call this fireflies in the sky.  It is beautiful in the nighttime hours or early morning like today.  And I always wonder where they are coming from or where they are going.  I always say - I wish I was on that flight to "somewhere".  My wishes to fly somewhere are on hold for now but I will get 'back in the saddle' again soon and the sky will be limitless!  I've missed it but will return soon.