The Coolest Job in the Sky

Flight attendants, or stewardesses as they were called when I was young, were the coolest women I had ever seen. It was the early 60’s, and they wore cute uniforms with pins in the shape of wings. They knew where everything was and brought passengers whatever they needed. They got to push very cool carts with soft drinks up and down the aisle. And they had ginger ale! I loved ginger ale. A very cool job indeed!

We had been in an accident near Whitehorse, in the Yukon Territory. We were traveling back from Alaska, returning from a visit with my paternal aunt and her family, when our small truck suddenly spun around. When we stopped spinning, we discovered we were upside down, with the back end of our truck hanging over a ravine, our possessions still there, secured by a tarp. The pies, on the other hand, were another story. My aunt had baked three pies for us to take with us on the trip back to Southern California. We wore the cream-filled ones, the other, an apple pie, remained remarkably intact.

I don’t know how long we waited for help to arrive. I was three at the time and scared to death. My father’s arm was bleeding and finally an ambulance arrived. I have no memory of anything after that until my other aunt and uncle arrived from Spokane to rescue me and my mother. All I knew at that point was that my father was in the hospital and we were going back to Alaska to catch a plane home. The truck was totaled and it was closer for my uncle to drive us back to Eagle River than to Los Angeles.

As worried as I was about my father, I was excited to fly on a plane. I had never flown before, and how we survived a flight where almost everyone was smoking cigarettes I’ll never know. But it was so much fun! My mother encouraged me to sleep, but there was so much going on that I couldn’t settle down. I was so fascinated by the flight attendants. I was sure they needed help, but my mother had other ideas, which is why she sat in the aisle seat.

I’ve never seen women work so hard in my life. And they did it all with a smile and a kind word for everyone. I loved airports and the day I could no longer wander freely about was devastating. Airports are filled with the energy of possibility, with flight attendants making sure it all comes together. I toyed with the idea of becoming one, but then I was informed that I would be attending college. I’m sure I could have figured out a way to earn a college degree and still work at an airport, but life went another way and the degree earned was in Psychology.

But when the plane landed in the Hudson River, we all saw the commitment the airline staff had toward those passengers. It was the same that day I flew home to California with my mother, my father still in the hospital in Canada. They must have known something had happened, because they all gave me extra attention. I was the only child on the plane, and every time they would walk up and down the aisles, every flight attendant either smiled, winked or had something nice to say to me.

I still love flying and airports are so individual now that sometimes it nice to arrive early, just to see what’s there. And I still feel the excitement that I felt as a child, watching the flight attendants, men and women both, walk down the concourse with the pilots, all smiles as they speak first to their co-workers at the desk before walking down the hallway to the plane. They’ll take care of everyone, just as they always have. And I’ll be sure to thank them each time, for they mean more than they’ll ever know.

~Blessings to all!