The 1st self-quarantine Easter has come and gone. It wasn’t all that bad. I must say, however, it was the 1st Easter Mass I attended in my pajamas. I won’t lie. I was very comfortable watching the Mass while lying on my bed. My hair was a complete mess. I still had morning crusties in the corner of my eyes. However, my heart was in the right place. I did miss seeing the congregation in their Easter outfits. But, I quite enjoyed not worrying days before about what I was going to wear on Easter. I also happily discovered when I watched Easter Mass on-line, I paid more attention to the readings and the Gospel. I also prayed a little harder, too. This fact made me smile. I think it made God smile, too.

This past Friday my family colored Easter eggs. It’s our family tradition to color eggs on Good Friday. I remember several years ago my family had to rush downstairs just before we started to color eggs. The tornado sirens started blaring. We found out later a tornado had touched down by the airport. Fortunately, no one was injured. It was a great Good Friday. I think about that tornado every Good Friday. Thankfully, this Good Friday was tornado free.

You know, I don’t care how old I get, I still enjoy coloring Easter eggs. Yes, I still color eggs. I color the last of the eggs when everyone else gets tired of waiting for their eggs to turn the perfect color and they leave the kitchen. This happened when I was a child, too. We kids would get excited to color eggs. However, there were usually too many kids, too many eggs, and not enough colors. We’d eventually get bored waiting for our turn to color again and we’d leave with the kitchen . We knew coloring eggs had officially ended when someone would make the khaki colored egg. The egg that got the full-color treatment. It got put in all the colors. We never knew who was going to make the khaki egg. We just knew someone was going to make it. And we all came back to see it done. It always made us smile. I think it made God smiled, too.

On Saturday I took out the Easter baskets. These baskets have been in our family for years. However, these baskets haven’t always been the most coveted Easter baskets. The coveted baskets weren’t even baskets. They were paper lunch bags. We called them “poverty Easter Baskets”. I know calling an Easter basket “a poverty Easter basket” is not politically correct these days. It wasn’t politically correct to call it that back then, either. But one of us kids coined the name and it stuck. Unlike the beautiful baskets with a handle and a bow, these lunch bags were brown with the tops turned down a cuff or two.

You see, when we were younger my family would spend Easter with our dear family friends. Depending on the year, there could be 10 kids or more for Easter. Our friends would travel from out of town. Some would drive. Others would fly. Getting their families to St. Louis was their main concern. Bringing Easter baskets was not.

I believe the lunch bag Easter baskets were a last-minute decision made by our Mother’s. I’m sure it was made at midnight when they realized they had too many kids and not enough Easter baskets. Fortunately for us, our Mother’s did feel some guilt about the basket issue. They compensated by putting less Easter grass in the bags and more candy in them. We loved our brown paper bag baskets. Each Easter we would get excited for our bags. We always knew what bag belonged to each other. We never ate the candy out of someone else’s bag. However, my dad would peek in the bags and eat everyone’s black jelly beans. They were his favorite. They were not anyone else’s favorite. So we were grateful he ate them. To this day, when someone mentions the poverty Easter baskets and the wonderful memories of us spending the holiday together, we laugh and we smile. I think this makes God smile, too.

The tradition of the Easter bag carried on when I started flying. As a new Skytress or Skyter you knew you were going to fly the holidays. I’ve had the pleasure of spending Easter with my airline family many times. I always brought a gift for my crews no matter the holiday. I believed, if we were going to be away from our families, I was going to make the holiday special for my crew the best way I could.

I did upgrade the Easter basket bag for my crews. I always picked a spring-colored gift bag with handles. I couldn’t bring myself to put the Easter grass in the bags. I had horrible visions of the hotel cleaners cursing the crews if the grass was all over the hotel floors. So I would fill the bags up with candy and fluff tissue paper on the top. My crews would always be surprised when I gave them their Easter basket bags. Their gift to me was seeing their beautiful smiles. I think this made God smile, too.

Yesterday after Mass I called and texted my family and friends. I knew everyone would be at home with their families. It would be a different holiday for everyone. I called and texted more than I would have on previous Easters. My family and friends talked about watching Easter services on-line. We chuckled about the khaki eggs. And we laughed about the Easter bag baskets. I felt closer to my family and friends this Easter than I have in a long time. The love and laughter I shared this Easter definitely made me smile. Without a doubt, I know it made God smile, too.

INAUGURAL FLIGHT

What is a Skytress?

I’ve been called a lot of things in my life. Only once was I called a Skytress.

It all happened on my layover in Jacksonville after checking into the hotel. My fellow flight attendant and I decided to go to the gas station next to the hotel to get dinner. Ah, the glamorous part of my job no one tells you about. Anyhow, we walked through the parking lot and went through the bushes on a dirt path clearly made by fellow airline crew going off for a hearty meal. Before we knew it, we were standing in the Subway Sandwich line inside the gas station.

As we approached the sandwich area, there was a customer being waited on. The gentleman behind the counter was busily making his sandwich. As we waited, I slipped into deep contemplation. “What type of bread should I get? What type of Sun Chips goes best with a Veggie Delight?”. The cheery man behind the counter shouted out to us, “Are you ladies Skytresses?”. I looked at my fellow flight attendant. She looked back at me just as confused. In my sweetest flight attendant voice I said, “Excuse me?”. To which the gentleman asked again, “Are you ladies Skytresses?”. There was another awkward pause as we all looked at each other. The man innocently asked a third time, “Aren’t you ladies Skytresses? You know, waitresses in the sky”. Now I’ve been called a flight attendant, a stewardess and even a trolley dolly. Never had I been called a Skytress. I loved it!

I couldn’t get back on that dusty trail and go through those bushes back to my hotel room fast enough. “I’m a Skytress” swirled through my head. I was giddy. I felt like a super hero. Instead of a cape, I had wings. I called my boyfriend Ron and told him the whole story. He laughed. He laughed even harder when I pointed out to him that he was a Skyter. A waiter in the sky.

The Blog Gets It’s Wings

As you may know, there are some books written about flight attendants and their careers. They are usually written by flight attendants. And the truth be told, they are mostly read by flight attendants, too. At some point in our careers flight attendants talk about these books. These conversations usually lead to what stories we would tell if we were to write a book. And we always discuss what we would call our books. My favorite book title came from a fellow flight attendant in Cincinnati. He was going to write a book and call it “How I survived 40 Years of Menopause “. I still chuckle when I think about this.

Although I love to write, I knew I could never write a book. Between flying, commuting, and trying to whittle down my list of things to do, I’d never have the time. But, I always thought I could write a blog. Yes, a blog would be doable. I knew I would call my blog “The Rerouted Skytress “. One day I told my Skyter boyfriend about my idea. He encouraged me to start the blog. Thus, many nights on my layovers I would lie in bed trying to sleep and ideas would pop into my head. When this would happen I’d always flip the lights on and write my ideas down on the hotel notepads. After many layovers I collected a lot of little notepad papers. I’d always place them in the extra pocket of my suitcase. My blog was getting wings. I was so happy.

The Worst Reroute

On July 30, 2018, I got one of the worst reroutes of my life. It didn’t come from Crew Scheduling. It came from God himself. He took my beautiful Skyter Ron’s airline wings and exchanged them for his angel wings. He was two days away from turning 51. Ron was now flying with the angels using his new Heavenly wings. I was left here on Earth with just my Skytress wings. Ron and my future together was canceled. Flight cancellations are bad. Life cancellations are awful awful awful.

Departure Time

It has taken me a long time to want to start a blog again. However, the past few months I have been receiving angel signs from my handsome Skyter. Every morning and every night I looked at my Skyter’s pictures on my dresser and wondered what he was trying to tell me. Then God gave us all a reroute. COVID-19. We had to self-quarantine. I saw friends and family thinking outside the box to stay connected. They had to be creative to feed their souls under quarantine. I did too. All my angel signs were making sense now. I knew without a doubt it was time for me to start my blog.

Crew Assistance

I asked my nieces if they knew anything about starting a blog. My one niece suggested I check out YouTube. I knew then starting a blog was considered old school. Now I feel like I am back at initial flight attendant training. However, instead of learning to deploy a raft in a ditching, I’m learning how to get these words on my actual blog. Getting my pictures on the blog is definitely going to take a crew effort.

Taking Flight

So this is my inaugural flight of The Rerouted Skytress blog. I don’t know if anyone else will join me on my blog. I’m okay with this possibility. A ferry flight- a flight with no passengers- is still a flight. Thus, a blog with no readers is still a blog.

Yes, there will be more blogs to come. My topics will be as diverse as the trips I have flown these past 30 years. It will be an adventure for sure. This blog is taking flight. As the note my beloved Skyter gave me says, …”Let’s have a great trip”. I couldn’t agree more.