A Coast to Coast Day in the Life

Sometimes I need to be reminded that I have an amazing job.  Like everyone else I start to take things for granted, and I forget that the routine things I do everyday seem incredibly interesting to people.

Take my last trip for instance.  My mother called me at 9 am on Saturday morning.  "I thought you were going to work?" she said.  "I am.  I'm already in Chicago," I replied.  That day I flew to Portland Oregon, and watched the mist swirl around Mt. Hood as we descended to land.

The next morning I watched the sun rise over the Rockies, on my way to Denver and then on to Newark, NJ.  The view of NYC wasn't as clear as it was last week, and I'm ashamed to admit I barely noticed it.

The third day had me flying back across the country to see the other ocean and land in LA.  The fourth day was back to Chicago and then home for the holiday.

After discussing  my schedule with a friend, I realized how unusual my work week had been compared to most people.  I had been back and forth across the country 4 times in 4 days.  Sadly, I only left the hotel once, in Portland.  In the past I would do a lot of sight seeing on the road, but lately I have started using my time away from home to write, catch up on emails, and talk on the phone.

I bid for my schedule each month based on seniority.  I'm lucky enough to have the seniority to be home with my family for the holidays.  The airline industry runs 365 days a year, and there are a lot of employees sacrificing time off with their families to make sure everyone else makes it to Grandma's house for turkey.  I'm grateful to all of my co-workers and anyone else that is required to work on the holidays.  Thank you for holding down the fort, and I hope there was an extra big piece of pie for you when you arrived back home.