The Travel Bug

I remember around the age of 10-12 years old being at Christmas and everyone gathered around the phone talking to my cousin who couldn’t make it home for the holidays. She was a flight attendant and was halfway across the world living a life that I could only dream about. Everything about her job intrigued me.

She lived a life of adventure, and if you know her, you know that even a trip to the grocery store can be a full fledge production. Her personality is as big as the places she’s been. She was riding camels in the desert, living in NYC, and traveling to places I didn’t know existed.

That’s when I got the “bug”.

I mean, who wouldn’t want to travel on someone else’s dime, go to exotic places, learn about new cultures, and meet people from all over the globe?

It would’ve been nice but God had other plans for me.

I was a wife and mama. Which was incredible and I wouldn’t change it for anything in the world…..but I longed for more.

So I stepped out and did something.

When the boys were in high school I saw where Southwest Airlines was hiring and it got me to thinking……the boys would be gone soon and what was I going to do with my life?

I mean, I live in Turkey, Tx. Population 401.

I loved raising my boys in this ranching rural town, but I had a big grand vision for what I wanted my life to look like and how was I supposed to see the world when all I could see was a cloud of West Texas dirt?

I sent in the application and received an email that they wanted to set up an interview. Y’all, my last interview was when I was 17 and a junior in high school. I’m pretty good at talking to people, but I am AWFUL at being put on the spot. Thank goodness my boys got JE’s wittiness.

I remember the phone interview like it was yesterday. We were headed back from a rodeo and I made JE pull over at a park in Coleman, Tx. Then I made him get out of the pickup because I was too nervous to talk in front of him. The interview was awful. I stuttered, I didn’t know what to say…hell, I didn’t even say that my number one priority as a flight attendant was the passengers safety. I mean, that’s kind of a no brainer.

Needless to say my “more” wasn’t in my future…..

Or was I just getting started?