Ron used to say all the time that we were night owls. Night owls that preferred to fly early morning flights. It wasn’t always the best combination for our R.E.M. sleep. But, I accomplish so much more in the late hours. Even if that is just binge watching something on Netflix or the Hallmark Channel. So, it has always baffled me as to why it is so darn hard for me to stay up to midnight on New Year’s Eve. The hours from 8pm-midnight are like sloth hours for me. I have celebrated New Year’s Eve in many cities throughout my life and Skytress career. On December 31st, I am completely ready to say goodbye to the current year and hello to the new year. However, I absolutely abhor staying awake on New Year’s Eve until midnight to make it all happen.

When I was a young Skytress, I was excited to fly an all-nighter back to Cincinnati on New Year’s Eve. I was flying with some of my favorite Skytresses and Skyters friends. We, also, had champagne to serve all the passengers at the stroke of midnight. (Well, really it was sparkling wine….but, champagne sounds more festive). I was flying in-charge that night. Staying awake on a plane at night is mentally challenging. The cabin is dark and the passengers are usually sleeping. The idea of waking everyone up to serve them champagne sounded naughty and fun. I relished the idea for hours. The sloth hours until midnight. For awhile, I actually thought time was standing still. It refused to enter the new year. I pleaded to Father Time. Just short of making a horrible deal with the devil…..we made it to midnight. As soon as my watch clicked on 12, I made a PA wishing our passengers a Happy New Year. I told them the crew would be coming through the aisles with champagne….(because it sounded more festive) to celebrate. I happily served my first-class passengers. The first-class passengers happily toasted the New Year at 35,000 feet. We made it to midnight and the new year! Alleluia!!! It would be easy to make it through the rest of the flight. A few minutes later my friend David strolled into first-class. He said there were a couple passengers in the main cabin that were disgruntled. They informed David, according to their watches, it wasn’t officially midnight when I made my PA. After hours of watch-watching, I felt very offended. How dare those coach passengers question my Seiko watch! I had all I could do not to pick up my PA and make another announcement. I wanted to tell those few passengers my watch was set to official airline time. I wanted to inform them I have spent the past few hours watching the small hand ever so slowly make its way to the 12. I wanted to bellow….”Keep your comments to yourself and fix your watches accordingly!” “Oh, and again, Happy New Year”.

I know you won’t be shocked to read I spent numerous Skytress years flying on New Year’s . Well, after my first year of flying that is. My year as a Skytress I didn’t fly on New Year’s Eve or New Year’s Day. Unfortunately, I was flying my Christmas trip when my ears became blocked. I had excruciating sharp pain shooting from both ears down my neck for two days. I felt I was paying the piper for my St. Louis layover on Christmas Eve. When I got home I couldn’t get in to see my primary physician. Fortunately, my Mom donned her Super Mom cape and came to my rescue. My Mom was able to get an appointment with my brother Brian’s pediatrician. I didn’t mind going to see him. Dr. Sharp was once my pediatrician, too. After reading the latest “Highlights” edition in the waiting room, I was called in to see the doctor. Dr. Sharp examined my ears and told me I had severe infections in both ears. I was grounded from flying for two weeks. I don’t remember much from that New Year’s. Strong antibiotics helped me miss the sloth hours until midnight….and the few days that followed.

In the movies, Skytresses and Skyters fly fabulous trips on New Year’s Eve. They arrive to the hotel in time to change into designer couture dresses or tuxedos and attend a marvelous New Year’s Eve party. I’d love to tell you my Skytress New Year’s trips were exactly like this scenario. Sadly, I never traveled with a couture dress that coordinated nicely with my sensible Skytress concourse shoes. In reality, I was mostly on short layovers trying to get some sleep before an early get up. I remember one New Year’s Eve I was at the airport hotel in Albuquerque. I had just fallen asleep when I heard people running up and down the hallway screaming. I could hear them gleefully punching balloons down the hallway. I wondered to myself, “Who celebrates New Year’s Eve at the airport hotel in Albuquerque?” I quickly came to the conclusion I’d see those celebrants on my early flight the next morning. I refused to look at the clock. I told myself it was obviously midnight. I rolled over and tried to get back to sleep. Of course, since it was past midnight and the sloth hours had passed….time sped up fast. Deliriously fast. Before I knew it, I was putting on my sensible Skytress concourse shoes getting ready to go back flying in the new year.

One year I was finally senior enough to have my trip come in on New Year’s Eve day. It was a major Skytress achievement. At the time, I was dating Captain Pilot. Captain Pilot was trying to make it back from Atlanta to Cincinnati to ring in the new year with me. Air traffic control slowed down Captain Pilot’s plane into Atlanta. Captain Pilot told me he was determined to make his deadhead flight home to Cincinnati. He had to run through the Atlanta airport like O.J Simpson to make his flight. But, good- golly, he made it. I know time was flying by at Mach speed for him that evening. On the contrary, it was an utterly sloth-dragging time for me. I was trying to keep busy by making our dinner. However, I couldn’t prepare most of the meal too far in advance. So mostly, I just waited. When Captain Pilot got to the house he was still in Mach mode. I started to make dinner. He jumped in right beside me to help. We were in the middle of getting dinner ready when I looked at him. He was still in his uniform. I started to laugh. I asked him if he was going to eat in his uniform, too. He laughed. As he headed off to change, he said it wouldn’t have been the first New Year’s Eve meal he had eaten in his uniform!

One New Year’s trip my crew and I were laying over at the airport hotel in Newark. It was a short layover. Early in the morning I headed down to the lobby to meet up with my crew. I was anticipating a solitary elevator ride. I was a little startled when the elevator stopped at another floor. Not as startled as I was when the elevator door opened, though. A man and a woman with very dramatic gothic makeup and attire entered the elevator with me. I backed up further in the elevator to make more room for the couple. As I did, I noticed the woman was holding a dog leash. The dog leash was attached to a collar the man was wearing around his neck. This seemed very normal for them. It wasn’t normal for me. Immediately, I had a hundred questions I wanted to ask the couple. But, quite frankly, they scared me a wee bit. I pretended this elevator ride was a normal early morning occurrence for me. When the elevator doors opened to the lobby, I was once again stunned. Most mornings hotel lobbies are very quiet. This morning the lobby was abuzz with people. People not unlike the couple I rode in the elevator with. My eyes bounced from one extravagant looking person to the next. Eventually, I spotted my Skyter friend David. David was standing off to the side holding a cup of coffee taking in the whole scene. I walked over to David trying to act nonchalant about everything and everyone I was observing in the lobby. The first words David spoke were, “I think we are the bizarre looking ones this morning.” He was correct. We were the odd-balls dressed in our airline uniforms. Before I could say anything, David informed me that Howard Stern had taped a New Year’s Eve tv show at the hotel the previous evening. At that moment everything made sense to me. I’m sure it was very exciting for these people to take part in a New Year’s Eve tv special. Though I wondered if at some point in the evening one or more of the participants thought to themselves, “Are we ever going to make it to midnight?”

One year my friends decided to forgo their traditional New Year’s Eve party for a themed New Year’s Eve party. We decided to do a themed party after the year we all dressed up and cooked numerous culinary courses. There were definitely too many courses to cook that year. Even with the help of the sloth hours. Yes, that year almost did us in. We needed to simplify and lighten things up. Thus, the themed party evolved. The following year the New Year’s Eve party was themed, “Back to the 80’s”. Most of us grew up in the 80’s. It was easy to recreate and plan this party. The year after that, the theme was, “A White Trash” New Year’s Eve. Boy, we went all out for this theme. That New Year’s I completely understood the couple I encountered in the elevator in Newark. A dog leash and collar were nothing. Our friend Steph’s costume would have made the elevator couple wonder about her sanity. We didn’t wonder, though. Steph used to be a Skytress! I must confess, the look on the man’s face who delivered the chicken pâté’ that year was priceless. I’m sure it was the same reaction I gave the couple in the elevator in Newark. My friends lived in a very nice area in downtown Chicago. However, for the party, my friends hung a clothes lines through their living room….complete with undergarments hanging on it to enhance the party theme. An ironing board was used as a buffet table. Lawn furniture was placed all around the room. It was an over-the-top “white trash” spectacle. We had a spectacular evening celebrating. Yet, as the evening rolled on… my sloth hours eventually kicked in….just like they do every New Year’s Eve. I once again wondered if I would make it to midnight. Good thing there was an aluminum lawn chair to sit in while I waited for the new year to creep in.

I haven’t stayed awake until midnight the past several New Year’s. Before the sloth hours become unbearable, I am snuggled warmly under my bed covers falling off to sleep. This has become my new New Year’s tradition. I haven’t decided if I will pause this tradition this year. Like everyone else, I desperately want to see 2020 end and 2021 begin. Then again, I think how excited I was last year for the year to start. Three months later, it took an awful… awful… awful… turn. It’s definitely been an exhausting year. Making it to midnight might be asking too much of me this year. Maybe I should continue with my new tradition of going to sleep early. In an exceptionally abnormal year,….I’d like at least ONE normal thing to go as planned.

The first time I was able to bid for vacation as a Skytress, I put the week of Christmas down for my first choice. I, obviously, didn’t hold this vacation. Nonetheless, I would bid this vacation date first every year afterwards. It was considered dream bidding. I knew one day my dream of holding a Christmas vacation would become a reality. I always wanted to be prepared for that day. Thirty years later, I WAS prepared. I wasn’t prepared, though, for the shock of seeing I held a Christmas vacation. It was a Christmas miracle, as far as I was concerned. Ron was senior to me at our airline. He was told to bid two weeks of vacation together to help his odds of holding a Christmas vacation his first round. Even with 30 years under his belt, he couldn’t hold a Christmas vacation. Thus, I figured I had to fly at least thirty-five years to hold a Christmas vacation. Yes, we could bid around the holiday and hold Christmas off. But, there is something victorious about finally being able to hold a Christmas vacation in the airline industry. After the shock of realizing I had vacation over Christmas, I became giddy. Then I became nostalgic. I have incredible Skytress memories from flying with my crews on Christmas. I tell younger, impatient, Skytresses and Skyters their day will come when they will be able to hold a Christmas vacation, too. However, I proclaim to them, some of my most memorable Skytress trips happened when I flew over the holidays…..starting with my first Christmas.

My first Christmas as a Skytress I had a St. Louis layover on Christmas Eve. Normally Skytresses and Skyters bid only once for the next month of flying. When I first started flying we would bid two times for December. This ensured more senior Skytresses and Skyters would hold the holidays off. Some senior people would bid to fly reserve the second part of December to hold the holidays off. Of course, the junior Skytresses and Skyters thought this was unfair. I didn’t mind. I got a lovely taste of “holding a line” the second week of December. I, also, held St. Louis layovers. I told everyone I dreamed bid to get the layovers at home. The reality was, more likely, no one else wanted a St. Louis layover for Christmas. For years, my family went to our friend’s house for a Christmas Eve party. When the Clatt’s heard I would be laying over in St. Louis on Christmas Eve, they asked me to invite my crew to come to their house. I did just that. My crew didn’t want to impose on our holiday. Fortunately, our dear friend, Mary, came to the airport with my Mom to make sure my crew agreed to come to the Clatt’s house. Mary worked for our airline. She and her family were spending the holidays with my family. Yes, Mary is the same person that suggested to me to become a Skytress. You may, also, remember, Mary’s daughters and I have been best friends since we were three and four-years old. I’m so fortunate that Mary convinced everyone to come for Christmas Eve. It is one of my favorite Christmas crew trips. The Clatt’s definitely know how to throw a party. More importantly, they know how to make everyone feel like family. I’m positive my crew didn’t expect to partake in our tradition of singing Christmas songs on Christmas Eve. Remarkably, they sang every song with us. One of my Christmas crewmembers, Veronica, was in my training class. Veronica is a Spanish speaker. Veronica made our holiday more memorable when she sang “Silent Night” in Spanish for us. It was a beautiful Christmas gift. Sadly, I haven’t seen my two Salt Lake based pilots, or my two Atlanta based Skytresses in years. To this day, however, my family and friends still reminisce about this Christmas party. I like to think each year on Christmas Eve, my Christmas crew still reminisces about this trip, too.

One Christmas I flew with a couple of my favorite Skytress friends. We layed over in Tampa on Christmas Day. We had a blast flying together on previous trips. So, we made a conscious decision we would have a grand time flying on Christmas, as well. We arrived in Tampa late Christmas Eve. After sleeping in a wee bit, we decided we would meet to go to breakfast together. As you can imagine, not much was open on Christmas morning. However, Waffle House was open. We were extremely grateful it was open, too. Our meals were filling. The laughter and smiles we shared were glorious. When we left to head back to the hotel, we walked smack-dab down the middle of the road. This only made us laugh harder. Only on Christmas could you walk down the middle of a normally very busy street with not one car passing by. I would have loved to have eaten at Waffle House on another one of my Christmas trips. That Christmas my crew and I got rerouted to Knoxville on Christmas Day. I had a strong feeling when we got our reroute to layover that we better get food before we left the airport. I was grateful we did. The hotel restaurant was closed. There wasn’t an open restaurant in sight either. Not even a Waffle House. That Christmas was also the first year TBS showed the movie, “A Christmas Story” for 24- continuous hours on TV. After watching the movie at least three times, I decided to call it a Christmas and I went to bed. My Christmas wish that holiday was for the trip to be over so we could get back home and celebrate properly with our families…..and get something decent to eat.

I loved to buddy-bid with my friends at Christmas. My friends and I knew based on our seniority we going to work the holiday. We decided we would like to fly the holiday with someone we knew and have a festive time. I used to buddy-bid with my friend Howard……or Skeeter, as I call him. One Christmas we flew to Minneapolis to layover. The crew was picked up in a limousine. The day before I had baked cookies for my crew. While we rode to the hotel I asked everyone if they would like some cookies. One Skytress on my crew accepted my offer. She took a huge bite of the oatmeal cookie. Then she declared in a grinch-like demeanor that there weren’t any raisins in the cookie. Skeeter had my back. He immediately told her I don’t like raisins in my oatmeal cookies. Then he asked her what she brought for the crew. She was speechless. I smiled at Skeeter. He chuckled under his breath. The next day Skeeter and I went to the employee cafeteria in Atlanta on our sit. Skeeter was telling me stories about being in the Marines. We were engrossed in conversations and lost track of time. We were unquestionably late to our next flight. When we got to the gate, the grumpy agent supervisor wanted to know why we were late. Skeeter had been a gate agent prior to being a Skyter. He told the agent he didn’t need to know why we were late…just that we were late. I had an uneasy feeling the supervisor wasn’t going to let our tardiness slide…..even on Christmas Day. After we boarded the plane, Skeeter popped out the boarding music tape and put in his own homemade Christmas music tape. I was amazed he knew how to swap the music out of the aircraft panel. Later when we got to San Francisco I listened to Skeeter’s Christmas music tape. It was a very eclectic mix of Christmas music. I mentioned this to Skeeter later when we walked around San Francisco. Our passengers must have been wondering who picked out the boarding music at our airline. It definitely was different! We eventually flew the all-nighter home to Cincinnati. Skeeter playfully left the Christmas coloring book I put in his stocking on the first-class counter. All through the night, the crew would saunter up to first class and color a page to pass the time. I know the Captain thought we had all lost our minds coloring the Christmas themed pages. Little did we know several years later adult coloring books would become the rage. When we got back to Cincinnati one of the more cantankerous supervisors stopped me in the crew lounge. Thankfully, she still had some Christmas spirit in her. She complimented me on my Christmas sweater. ( when Christmas sweaters weren’t considered ugly) Then she said she got a report that Skeeter and I were late to the gate in Atlanta. She was fully aware our flight departed before the scheduled time. But, she wanted to make sure Skeeter and I didn’t show up late for boarding ever again. I told her we wouldn’t. Santa may have put me on his naughty list right then and there.

Another year, I buddy-bid with my friend Jennie Lou. Yes, Skytress Jennie Lou was whom I flew with when we wore the Christmas bells around our necks. As you may recall, we were to ring our bells when we saw a cute passenger. At Christmas we always wore Santa hats when we preformed our safety demonstration. One year I brought battery-operated Santa hats. When turned on the hat pom-pom moved from one side to the other. My friend’s Mom discovered this jolly Santa hat weeks earlier at a drug store. I picked up my crew’s Santa hats at the drugstore when I was getting more battery-operated Christmas lights. We creatively hung the lights in the galley with bandaids from the galley drawers. We joked we would have to take our Christmas decorations down if someone needed a bandaid. We, also, put Christmas lights on our beverage carts. I don’t know if the passengers enjoyed all our Christmas decorations. But, we did. Jennie Lou, also, wore Christmas socks that made everyone on our crew merry. One flight we weren’t going to to set up our Christmas decorations. Then Mary….yes, the same Mary who came to the St. Louis airport with my Mom my first Christmas flying,…was on our flight going to Pittsburgh. I told my crew we had to bring out the Christmas decorations for Mary’s enjoyment. After all, I became a Skytress because of Mary. We couldn’t be Bah Humbugs on Mary’s flight.

Another Christmas I was flying with more of my Cincinnati friends. We flew into JFK and had to shuttle over to Newark. My Mom had made cookies for my crew. We ate them on the hour and a half drive to the hotel. When we got to the hotel we all piled into one room to watch a movie. I brought Christmas gifts for my crew. When we piled into my room, Skytress Wanda, thanked me for her Christmas ornament. Our friend David moaned in a joking way. He told Wanda they were all supposed to open their gifts together as a crew. This made us all laugh. The next day we flew to Los Angles to layover. Skytress Terri’s family flew out there with us. David came up to first-class during the flight and told me they had Terri’s daughter help them pick up the trash. She loved it. She was our honorary Skytress. When we went to dinner in LA, Terri’s daughter was disappointed that she had to go eat with her parents and not the rest of “her” crew. That evening we ate outside in the comfortable December LA weather. We admired all the boats in the marina that were decorated with Christmas lights. Fantastic friends and Christmas lights always make the holidays brighter when you fly.

I loved bringing my crew Christmas gifts when I flew the holiday. Being Irish, I would always give my crew Irish Christmas ornaments. One Christmas I helped the gate agents in St. Louis board the airplane. Unfortunately, I forgot to grab my Christmas bag of gifts when I eventually boarded the plane to commute to Atlanta. While on my flight, I tried to convince myself I put the Christmas bag in the overhead bin. I didn’t. I felt awful awful awful that I didn’t have gifts to give my crew. The next year I was in the crew lounge in Tampa. I had my Christmas gift bag next to my crew bags. When I went up to the gate I forgot to bring my Christmas bag with me. I know the gate agent supervisor wasn’t happy I ran back to the crew lounge to get it. But, I wasn’t going to start a tradition of leaving my Christmas bag behind every year. The looks on my Christmas crew’s faces when I gave them their presents was well-worth the sprint back to the crew lounge.

One Christmas my crew and I had a Christmas miracle. Scheduling needed a crew to fly to Portland, Maine at the last minute. Scheduling asked me if my crew would help them out by working the flight. In return, they would let us deadhead back to Cincinnati on the first flight and be off the rest of Christmas Day. I asked my crew what they would like to do. The scheduler promised us they wouldn’t change their mind about releasing us in the morning. So, we all agreed to fly to Portland. Scheduling kept their Christmas promise. We all made it back home for a full day of Christmas with our families. I know I was home in St. Louis by 0930. Just a few hours after Santa made it back home to the North Pole.

I love holding a Christmas vacation these days to ensure I am home with my family for the holiday. That being said, I loved spending Christmas with my airline family. Christmas crews are extra-special crews. Even Santa knows this. Santa, also, knows some of the best Christmas gifts don’t always come under the Christmas tree. The memories I made flying with my Christmas crews have been some of the best Christmas gifts I have ever received. I will cherish them forever. I readily admit, though, I will be very happy to have breakfast at home again this year…..and not at Waffle House! Merry Christmas everyone.

I was flying out of our International E Concourse the other week in Atlanta. As my crew and I were heading to the gate, we saw a display of vintage lunch boxes along one of the walls. Since we had time before we had to be at our gate, we stopped and looked at the lunch boxes. My fellow Skytresses and I took a much needed trip down memory lane. We laughed as we recalled going off to school with our beloved lunch boxes. There were several lunch boxes displayed that I had as a child. I was overjoyed to see my two Snoopy lunch boxes made the display. You know how much I love Snoopy and the Peanuts gang! If you don’t…you are about to find out.

When I was little my favorite toy was the Picture Maker featuring Peanuts. It was made by Mattel. The toy came with grids I traced to draw the Peanuts characters. Nothing made me happier than seeing the characters come to life on my paper. A few years ago, someone was selling the toy on EBay. I was a blockhead! I didn’t buy it. If I ever see the toy for sale again, I am definitely going to buy it. I, also, had the Snoopy Sno-Cone machine. The best frosty treats came complements of Snoopy. Happily, they still make these machines. I may have to ask Santa to bring me one this year. After months of living in a world with COVID-19, a Snoopy Sno-cone sounds pretty darn good. My brother, Sean, had “The Charle Brown Dictionary” when we were younger. No one hated looking up a word when you had “The Charlie Brown Dictionary”. Merriam-Webster could learn a lot from Good Ol’ Charlie Brown. Learning is so much more fun when Charle Brown and his friends are teaching you. I have Sean’s Charlie Brown Dictionary now. Good grief! I hope he doesn’t ask for it back. If he does, “I’m doomed”, as Charlie Brown would say.

I was notorious for giving and sending Peanuts cards to my family and friends when I was younger. Who am I kidding? I still give and send them. What can I say? Charles Schulz’s cast of characters always articulate the perfect sentiment for the perfect occasion. I must admit. I, also, have my fair share of Peanuts Christmas wrapping paper. Not everyone gets their presents wrapped in this paper. No, you have to be Snoopy Joe Cool, get your presents wrapped in Peanuts paper. Funny enough, sometimes the gift inside is actually a Peanuts gift. Lucy Van Pelt would say, “Rats” to this. We all know if Lucy could chose her gift, she would chose…. real estate. In December our pilots can choose to wear a Christmas tie with their uniforms. I once gifted a Snoopy Christmas tie to the pilot I was dating. He loved it. I knew he would. He and Snoopy are kindred spirits. After all, they both are Flying Ace pilots. Unfortunately, Boomer never learned to fly a doghouse. Or should I say, a Sopwith Camel biplane. However, Snoopy does have his wings and Honorary Pilot Certificate from my airline. It goes without saying, I would definitely be a Skytress on one of Snoopy’s flights.

I have received many Snoopy and Peanuts gifts throughout the years. I cherish all of them. I have a Peanuts snow globe, a Peanuts coffee table book, Snoopy stuffed animals, an over-sized Snoopy Pez candy dispenser and Peanuts character Christmas ornaments,….just to name a few of my treasured items. My niece, Jill, even gave me a lovely Peanuts necklace a few years ago. Good grief, it makes me and everyone happy when I wear it. When I dated Mr. West Point, he gave me an Army Snoopy Christmas ornament and the complete collection of Peanuts DVD’s. He, also, gave me a suitcase full of Peanuts story books. He didn’t want them. Aaugh! He was the ultimate blockhead! I gleefully read all the books on my flight from Phoenix to Cincinnati. When I got home to Cincinnati I frame a few of my favorite books and hung them in my guest room. They are now happily hanging in my art room in St. Louis.

I have a framed, “The Peanuts Movie”, theatre poster hanging in my basement. I walk past it whenever I go to do the laundry. Some days I stop and look at it for awhile. All the Peanuts characters are sitting in a movie theater. I am mesmerized by each and every one of them. They fill my heart and soul with immense happiness. My niece, Jill, gave me the poster the day after Ron died. Jill had planned days prior to give me the poster when I came in from my trip. When she learned Ron had died, she wasn’t sure she would bring it over. I am so grateful she did. Somehow my beloved characters breathed life to my broken heart. Ron knew Snoopy and the Peanuts gang brought me absolute joy. He most assuredly knew how excited I was for “The Peanuts Movie” to come out. I constantly reminded him of the release date. When “The Peanuts Movie” came out, I went to see the movie with my sister, Patti, and her family. Her daughter, Jamie, loves Snoopy as much as I do. We both eagerly waited months for the movie to come to the theater. We were not disappointed. After spending our lifetimes watching Snoopy and the Peanuts gang on TV, seeing the characters come to life on a movie screen was purely magical. Ron laughed later that day when I recounted our time at the movie. Ron later told me he wanted to take his son, Brendan, to see the movie when they were in Florida. He thought it would be a great movie for them to see together. I knew it would be. As Charles Schulz wrote, “Happiness is a warm puppy”. Especially when the puppy is Snoopy and he is in a movie with all of his wonderful Peanuts friends.

Snoopy and the Peanuts gang have been bringing families together for years. My family always watched the Peanuts TV specials together. Especially “A Charlie Brown Christmas”. Everyone in my family sat around our kitchen table reading the Peanuts comic strips in the newspaper. I loved watching everyone’s expression as they got to the last cell on the comic strip. There was usually a hearty chuckle followed by a satisfying smile. Now as a Skytress, I love catching our passengers reading the Peanuts comics while on the airplane. You can, also, be assured, my Irish eyes smile when a passenger boards the airplane wearing a Peanuts t-shirt. I am doubly-elated when I see a child carrying a much loved Snoopy stuffed-animal down the aisle. Yes, the Peanuts characters are timeless. Charles Schulz knew how to captivate the world for years with his characters. The day Charles Schulz passed away I was crestfallen. I felt the same way when my favorite baseball manager, George Anderson, died. Ironically, both these men went by the nickname, Sparky. After Sparky Schulz died, I had my heart set on buying an original Peanuts cartoon cell. Now that I am older, I know I don’t have to have an original Charles Schulz cartoon cell to be any happier. No, just seeing those Snoopy lunch boxes on display in the airport brought me utter joy. Good grief. Snoopy, Charlie Brown, Lucy, Linus, Schroeder and the rest of the Peanuts gang have brought me pure joy all my life. They have faithfully followed me everywhere like Linus’ trusty security blanket. Just as Linus refuses to get rid of his beloved blanket, I refuse to give up my beloved Snoopy and Peanuts gang. Good grief. Only a complete blockhead would do that.

There is always one family member that is the most excited to see us come home….and the saddest to see us leave. Yep, it’s the family dog. Well, at least it is in our family. Our dog Finley is the most excited to see me come home from flying. She twirls and wiggles and taps her feet in sheer exuberance. All is right in Finley’s world when I come home from being a Skytress. On the contrary, when it is time to go fly, I know Finley is thinking, “Dagnabbit! She’s leaving again!” This week I actually left on her birthday. I know. Shame on me! It’s okay. I have felt guilty about this for days. Yesterday,…Sunday, Finley turned 12. Don’t worry. We celebrated early. Yes, my guilty conscience got the best of me. We will celebrate again when I come home on Tuesday. There’s my guilty conscience again. Fortunately for Finley, I’ll be off for the rest of the month. It can’t get better than that for my four-legged friend. Well, maybe a puppy cup from Starbucks would make it better for Finley. So, of course, on Wednesday, we will go get one of those, too. Guilt won’t make me do this. No, one of my simple pleasures in life is seeing Finley enjoy her cup of whip cream from Starbucks.

It may come as a shock to some, but, Finely is actually not my dog. No, she is my brother Brian’s dog. Finley was Brian’s Christmas gift 12 years ago. Brian picked her out when she was only a few weeks old. She was the cute and feisty Goldendoodle puppy of her litter. Brian thought she was perfect. However, when Finley got older and much much bigger, she somehow became my dog. I don’t mind. Finley is a wonderful dog. Most days she is delightful entertainment. More importantly, she has been faithfully following me everywhere I go for years. I, apparently, make her happy and she definitely makes me happy. We couldn’t ask for anything more.

When Finley was a puppy we brought her to obedience school. Finley was a quick learner. She learned to obey all of our commands. Then she learned to turn the tables on us and made us obey all HER commands. Throughout the years, her list of commands,…or shall we say, demands,….has grown. Our days are spent making her happy. She likes it best this way. Finley has taught us it is our duty to pet her constantly. She would love it if we petted her 24-hours a day. But, she realizes we are only human. Thus, she grants us a handful of Finely pet-free minutes a day. However, when Finley feels it is absolutely necessary to have a puppy massage, she will tap us with her doggie paw to get her demands met. I learned years ago when a dog gives you their paw, it is their way of saying they love you. All our years together has taught us, when Finley gives us her paw, she is assuredly telling us, “I love you….now pet me.”

To my sheer delight, Finley is a snow dog. There was snow on the ground when she was born in Cuba. That would be Cuba, MO, and not Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. (I’m just clarifying this for those of you that have read my previous blog post about Guantanamo Bay.) There was, also, snow on the ground when we brought Finley home. Snow is what Finley loves best. I guess it is in her DNA, like it is in mine. As you may recall, I was born in Montana. I love snow. My love for snow, is without a doubt, in my DNA. Yes, God paired us up nicely. Finley definitely understands the word, “snow”. If you say it she will immediately run to the window and look outside. Snow is magical to Finley. She can’t go outside fast enough to frolic in it. Finley’s first stop is always at her “snow bush”. Finley loves to eat her fill of the white stuff sitting on top of the boxwood bush next to our patio. She actually buries her head in the bush to make sure she gets only the finest snow flakes. Without fail, it is always to her liking. The snow on top of the bush will tide her over until she gets fed her allotment of snowballs. Finley is, as Ron would say, “Awful, awful, awful”, at catching anything thrown to her. Unless, it is a snowball! Yes, Finley will twist and leap high into the cold winter air to catch each and every snowball thrown to her. I have to be very careful when I shovel the snow. Finley thinks it is one ginormous snowball and tries to catch the shovel-full of snow, as I toss it to the side of the driveway. I must confess. One of my many quirks is that I love to shovel snow. Finley relishes this quirk of mine. It means more time outside in the snow for her. Finley is sad when I finish shoveling the driveway. Thankfully, for Finley, Mother Nature likes to send snow our way several times during the winter.

Finley is not just a family dog, Finley is a working dog. Finley used to carry the newspaper into the house every morning when we got the paper delivered.. Well, unless there was snow outside. Then she would flip the paper around in the snow-covered yard. Yes, it was her way of of forcing me to play in the snow with her. Finley is a very clever dog. She knows it, too. She will do everything she can to get her needs met. Finley’s current job these days is barking at 930am to make sure we take Brian to work. Then she barks at 150pm to make sure we pick him up. It is, also, Finley’s job to come get me and let me know the mailman has delivered the mail. She insists I get it as soon as it is delivered. I think Finley feels to do otherwise would be rude. After all, the mailman delivered it specifically for us to go outside and retrieve it. Being part retriever, Finely takes retrieving things quite seriously. Finely, also, has her puppy patrol job. This is a very demanding 24/7 job for Finley. She mans her post from the front dining room window or from her favorite spot in the foyer. Finely will alert us if someone is walking down the street. Especially, if they have a another dog with them. Finley is very protective of her house. No other dog shall enter her jurisdiction. Well, unless it is my sister’s dog Charlie. She begrudgingly lets him enter. They are the best of friends and the worst of friends. When the pandemic started Finley’s was exhausted from all her puppy patrolling. For the first time in her life, there was an excessive amount of neighbors walking up and down her street. Finley spent her days alerting us to the endless amount of quarantine walkers invading her patrol area. With the constant flow of walkers, Finely could barely fit in a doggie nap. Eventually, Finley would only bark if the objectionable humans had a dog with them. Yes, the pandemic has not only been too much for us humans, it, also, has been too much for Finley, too.

We, for better or worse, have an abundance of deer in our neighborhood. The deer have become very used to us humans. People can walk down one side of the street and the deer will be on the other side calmly eating. We humans, deer watch. The deer, human watch. Finley watches the deer from her puppy patrol post. There was a time Finley used to bark ferociously at the deer. Now we just tell her the O’Deers are just outside eating their dinner. She seems to understand this concept. Finley will sit at the window and watch them eat. She is fascinated by them. Amazingly, they are not as fascinated by her. If I notice deer outside eating and Finley is in another room, I’ll call to her. I’ll tell her the O’Deers are having dinner and she will come and watch them. If we are riding in the car and I see deer, I will point them out to Finley. Finley is always excited to look out the window and see the O’Deers. It’s very evident Finley likes the Irish O’ Deers. It shouldn’t surprise us though. After all, Finley is our Irish dog.

Finley’s favorite pastime is going for car rides. Like most dogs, Finley likes to stick her head out the window. When she isn’t poking her head towards the wind, she sits at the window like a kid riding a school bus. Now, my sister’s dog Charlie is another story. One day I had Finely and Charlie in my car. I was driving through the neighborhood. Both dogs were happily sticking their heads out both sides of the passenger’s windows in the row behind me. As I came to a stop sign, Charlie jumped out of his window. I was shocked. Finley was shocked. The teenage-girl pulling out of her driveway was shocked. Charlie is a Goldendoodle like Finley. He is a very smart dog. He just isn’t smart enough to know you don’t jump out the car window to catch a squirrel. When I got Charlie back inside my car, I put him in the third row. Finley kept looking back at Charlie to make sure he didn’t jump through the window again. Charlie could still feel the breeze from the cracked window in front of him. Charlie was happy. Finley was happy. I was happy. Well, mostly I was relieved Charlie survived his window escape. I was more relieved when my sister and her family laughed about Charlie jumping through my car window.

There is a Goldendoodle in the Minneapolis airport that looks like Finley. This Goldendoodle is a service animal who’s job is to comfort passengers that may have anxiety from traveling. Passengers can pet the dog to feel better. I rarely have anxiety from traveling. But, I always pet the Minneapolis airport dog because she is so darn cute. The Minneapolis airport Goldendoodle reminded Ron of Finley. He said Finley would be a great airport comfort dog. I agreed with Ron. Finley would love it. As you now know, Finley loves to be petted. She loves going to the farmer’s market for this very reason. Free pets. Ron, also, thought Finely was the coolest dog. He would tell me this on numerous occasions. However, she wasn’t his favorite dog. That title belonged to his sister’s family dog, Koda. Ron proudly said Finley was his second favorite dog. We didn’t disclose this information to Finley, though. Finley likes to think she is EVERYONE’S favorite dog.

So, you may be wondering about Fat Head Finely. Well, Finley has several nicknames. We call her Finn, Finnie, Fluffy, and even Finnie Foo Foo. One day my Mom took Finley to the groomers. A lady there asked my Mom if Finley was a Standard Poodle. My Mom told the woman that Finley was a Goldendoodle ….a Golden Retriever and Standard Poodle mix. The woman said, ” I THOUGHT she had a fat head!” My Mom was surprised by the ladies comment. My Mom, however, is very quick-witted. Without missing a beat, my Mom told the lady, ” We call her Fat Head Finley”. And so it stuck. We don’t call Finley this much. As you can imagine, no one really likes being called a Fat Head.

Even though Finley just turned 12, she still thinks she is a puppy. Unfortunately, the years are catching up with her a wee bit more these days. Finley can no longer jump up onto my high four-poster bed. She has even recently given up jumping on the guest bed in her room. Sadly, the spring in her hind legs isn’t as bouncy after 12 years. When Finley could no longer jump up on my four-poster bed, she would sleep under it. Unfortunately, the past few weeks it has been harder for her to drag her 12-year old body out from under the bed. So, Finley now sleeps in the hallway or on the couch in the living room. At the last resort, she sleeps in her condo. (We call her dog crate a condo because it is so huge.) When it rains now, Finely will head to the bathtub to take shelter instead of crawling under something like she used to do. I did buy Finley an orthopedic dog bed for her weary bones. But, she refuses to lay on it unless she is being fed doggie treats. No, Finley believes she is still too young to resort to an orthopedic doggie bed. Most days Finley can still jump up into my Suburban. On a rare occasion, though, she will wait for me to lift her into the car. Happily, Finley still greets me every day like the puppy she thinks she is when I come home from flying. It’s a treat for both of our weary souls. I pray Finley has many more birthdays. I don’t like to think about the day Finely will no longer be here to greet me. So, I don’t think about it. Yes, there are many more happy days to think about, instead. We will definitely take many more car rides to the farmer’s market for her free-petting sessions. We will happily go for more puppy cups at Starbucks. We will, also, play with her squeaky toys for infinite hours. We will do whatever Finley wants to do. After all, Finley has trained us extremely well to be Finley-obedient.

There are certain moments in life we remember, without a doubt, where we were when something significant happened. I was in Chattanooga when I heard Prince had died. I was in Las Vegas when the Cubs finally won the World Series. I was sitting on the couch in my friend Tara’s house, in Peachtree City, when she told me about Pinterest. What is Pinterest? I’d be more than happy to tell you. Pinterest is the slippery slope into the Devil’s living room.

For years, I was I collector of torn out magazine pages. If there was a recipe I liked….rrriiippp,…..I tore it out of the magazine for safe keeping. If there was a project I thought I might like to do….rrriiippp,…out of the magazine it came. If there was a gardening idea or outfit that I liked…..rrriiippp,…it was out of the magazine before it became yesterday’s news. Now because I am a neat-nick, I had all these torn-out pages nicely filed away for future reference for when I needed them. Sadly, most of these tattered pages never saw the light of day ever again. When Tara explained to me what Pinterest was, I became ecstatic. She explained I could go on this website and look up recipes, gardening ideas, fashion ideas, craft ideas,…whatever tickled my fancy…. and create a “board” to “pin” the ideas on. Later, I could go back on Pinterest and easily find my saved ideas. I could also get ideas from the Pinterest website to save. In addition, I could follow my friends boards and see what they were interested in. Instead of asking my friends for a recipe, I could go search their Pinterest board and retrieve it myself. I no longer had to tear pages out of magazines or quickly write a recipe down hoping I got all the ingredients and steps. I was hooked! I quickly became a Pinterest fanatic. I tossed all my files away and I never looked back. I have no idea who started Pinterest. But, I believe they should be awarded the Noble Peace Prize. We could even look on Pinterest to get ideas on where to place it in the recipient’s home. Or even get directions on how to build the perfect trophy case to display it in. The Pinterest ideas are limitless.

I remember the day I told my Skyter friend Wyll about Pinterest. We were sitting in the E-Concourse in Atlanta waiting for our plane. Wyll was telling me about the cookbook he was writing based on family recipes. I asked Wyll if he had ever heard of Pinterest. He had not. So, I took out my iPad and showed him how Pinterest worked. Weeks later, I was in the crew lounge when Wyll walked in. He looked at me, laughed, and told me I was the devil for showing him all about Pinterest. He was hooked on the website, too. Wyll is extremely creative. His house could be on the cover of Southern Living Magazine or Architectural Digest. I follow Wyll on Pinterest to see what fabulous ideas he is going to bring to fruition. Thankfully, Wyll posts pictures on his Facebook page. It is sheer enjoyment for me to look at his posts. Of course, after I look at Wyll’s pictures, I get inspired and go back on Pinterest to search more ideas. Yep, Pinterest is a slippery slope I am constantly sliding down.

Ron and I rarely looked at our phones or computers when we were with each other. This was extremely refreshing. However, Ron knew about my love for Pinterest. Yes, Pinterest came up in conversations all the time. Most days when I was on a layover, Ron would call and see how I was doing. More times than I can count, I told him I was doing great. Then I would usually add I was just perusing Pinterest. This would always make both of us laugh. When Ron was busy doing something around the house, I would occasionally take the opportunity to take a look-see at Pinterest. Inevitably, Ron would catch me. My Pinterest-loving smile would always give me away. In spite of this, Ron would smile back and innocently ask me if I was checking out Pinterest. Usually, my all-to-familiar response to him was, “I’m slipping down the slope AGAIN!” Without skipping a beat, he’d chuckle and say, “You’re funny”. I usually put my iPad away after he asked if I was on the website. Pinterest is fun for me. But, it definitely wasn’t more fun than Ron. Ron trumped Pinterest every time.

I am very fortunate that I have a designated art room in my house. I love to tinker in there either painting or using my Cricut machine to design items. When the pandemic started and we all began to quarantine, I spent a lot of time in my art room looking at Pinterest for creative inspiration. One day I saw something that peaked my interest. It was jewelry stamping. It looked easy. My mind was filled with all the lovely jewelry pieces I was going to make. So, I decided I would buy the recommended tools and start stamping. Early on, I learned there is a definite learning curve to jewelry stamping. Who knew hitting a letter on a silver piece could be so difficult and frustrating? There is also some obvious noise to stamping. My poor dog Finley is not a fan of this activity. Fortunately for both of us, I eventually went back flying and put my jewelry stamping items away. One day when I was on a layover, I was sliding down the slippery slope AGAIN. I instantly became intrigued with clay ornament stamping when I was scrolling through Pinterest. I spent hours on the website looking at clay stamped ornaments. I decided that night, I’m going to try my hand at clay ornament stamping. However, I need to get Christmas up around the house first. I, also, have a few Pinterest Christmas decorating ideas I want to tackle before I tackle the ornament stamping. Oh, and I have a few new Pinterest Christmas cookies I’m dying to bake. Darn you Pinterest! There aren’t enough days to fit it all in. If only I had seen the clay ornament stamping in March and April. As we know all-to-well, those months never seemed to end.

I must confess, I have had my fair share of Pinterest disasters. Apparently, so have many other Pinterest followers. There are actually “Pinterest fail” websites. People post their inspirational Pinterest pictures. Then they post pictures of their failed attempts at recreating the Pinterest item. I discovered these sites when my Easter Bunny bread rolls, …that appeared extremely simple to make,….turned out to be the hardest things to replicate. After seeing the bunny bread roll fail posts, I didn’t feel so bad. Mine looked much better than most. I laughed so hard at some of the pictures I felt instantly better. Albert Einstein had a quote that I shared with Ron once. Albert said, “A ship is always safe at shore. But, that is not what it is built for.” Ron loved this quote. I love the quote, too. I am built to create. If I fail, oh well. I know I have learned something in the process that is just as valuable. I create because my soul positively craves it. I can’t stay safely at the shore. No, I have to steer my creative ship out into the open waters and see where it takes me.

I am quick to say that Pinterest is the slippery slope into the Devil’s living room. I can get lost on the Pinterest website for hours. One idea starts me searching in multiple directions. Before I know it, I have gone happily astray on the website. In actuality though, Pinterest is a happy outlet for my creative side. It gives me great pleasure to see what others are doing in the world. All the creativity and inspiring ideas on the website are staggering. Pinterest has also been an inspiration for me in another way. Many times I read the sidebar about the person who’s post I’ve clicked on. Happily, I’ve discovered these people aren’t very different than me. This knowledge actually gave me the courage to start my blog. Yes, Pinterest has been a beautiful blessing I never knew I needed in my life. The more I think about Pinterest, the more I realize it’s not the Devil’s living room. No, it is my Heavenly living room. I can’t thank my best friend Tara enough for opening the door to this sanctuary for me. Although, I will definitely try to find something on Pinterest to quote, make or bake to try to express my gratitude towards her. You can be assured, though, it just won’t be those darn Pinterest Easter Bunny bread rolls!