The Rerouted Skytress

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.