Blessed

Hello all my lovely readers. I first off want to apologize for ditching everyone for the last few months. To say that I was busy seems like such a lame excuse, but I really was very busy. I did a lot of flying and stuff and I was also feverishly working on finishing the last book in a series that I have been writing.

I am happy to say that I finished the book and am finally able to find some time to work on other things (such as The Shadow. :)) I can't say that I will be as good at writing every day like I was there for a while, but I am certainly going to try and keep things moving.

So I know you are all anxiously waiting to find out what happens next to Marissa, but I'm still working on the next chapter. I do however want to share a wonderful experience I had over the Christmas Holidays. I feel very blessed.

So I was lucky enough to have a five day block of reserve from the 22nd of December to the 26th. Yep, I was on call for the whole Christmas break. I knew I would get called too, because everyone who has any sort of seniority can drop trips or call in and of course the reserves get to work. I was somewhat ok with this because I knew I would make some $$.

Now I didn't think I would surpass my guaranteed flight hours for the month of December because I hadn't worked that much during the first two weeks of the month, so having the holiday pay as well as working was fine with me.

So on the 22nd I get a call at 4 AM that they are temporarily assigning me to Salt Lake City (TDY) for the 5 days. I was surprised at this because they usually send the SLC flight attendants to other domiciles. :) So off I go to SLC with a two day CRJ700 trip already on my schedule. I'm not a big fan of the 700 and 900 jets because I like to work alone, but when you are a reserve you suck it up and do what they tell you. And to top it off I got to be the forward flight attendant (FA) on Delta Connection.

AHHHHHHH! I have never, I repeat, never worked the FA position on Delta and I've only done it once on United. So yes, I was totally freaked out. Luckily I got an absolutely awesome aft flight attendant (FF) who helped me be calm. I actually ended up enjoying the position, but mostly because I didn't have to read the announcements. :)

So for two days I got to fly to St. Louis, MO (which would have been totally awesome if I could have stayed and seen my friend Kelly) and Denver. (I've never stayed in Denver before.) On the second day I came back to SLC and before we even arrived I already had stuff posted on my schedule. Just little stuff that would have brought me back to SLC on the 24th and then probably flying somewhere else through the 26th, but as luck would have it they decided to make a change to my schedule.

...Now I don't really think luck had anything to do with it. I think Heavenly Father and probably my mom were in on the plan and here's why...

So I get back to SLC and see that I am already scheduled for a 3 day trip on a CRJ900 that starts in 10 minutes. In other words I had 10 minutes to make it from the E gates in SLC to the end of the B gates. Now if any of you know SLC airport very well then you will understand why 10 minutes is not enough time. :) I book it over to the gate and meet my crew. This time I was in the FF position and I was totally ok with that. My awesome FA had helped me with some preflight stuff and we were ready to board.

So I start this lovely 3 day trip. I got to overnight in Omaha and briefly see my friend Jenn, which was wonderful, and then on to Ontario, CA, on Christmas eve. That was fun. The crews that were at the hotel all went out to eat at In and Out Burger and we got to relax a bit. It wasn't a horrible way to spend Christmas Eve. On Christmas Day we headed back to SLC and then did a Long Beach round trip. That was fun because I got to take two families to Disneyland and one to Lego land for Christmas. We also had a very nice passenger give us a box of wrapped Sees Candies "for the nice Delta flight attendants who had to work on Christmas."

So I was feeling pretty high on Christmas cheer and chocolate. We get back to SLC around 4 pm and I am on call the next day with nothing scheduled. I was luck that didn't have to be available until 9 AM on the 26th. After much contemplation and thought I rented a car and drove home to visit with my dad. I wouldn't be able to attend our family Christmas party on the 26th, but at least I could see my dad for Christmas.

I called to make sure he would be home and when he asked where I was I told him I was on my way to the hotel. (I just didn't tell him it was the hotel Deweyville. Hehehehehe) As it just so happened my sister was up visiting with my dad for Christmas. Bonus! So now I would get to see my dad and my sister and her family. I was feeling really awesome and excited by this point and then the next thing I know my dad is telling me that my brother is also going to stop by. Awesome! I would get to see two siblings and six nieces and nephews. Now I'm feeling humble and blessed. Heavenly Father is really watching out for me.

As I drove I also figured that my mom was working her angelic magic to make things happen this way. I could just see her tweaking schedules so that at just the right time someone would call in sick or cancel and I would get put on just the right trips to have that time off and of course the weather had to be pretty awesome too, because I wasn't about to drive a rental car to Deweyville in a snow storm. So I was sending up prayers of thanks to Heavenly Father for letting and helping my mom arrange stuff so the family could be together for Christmas.

Finally I arrive at my dad's house all excited and ready to surprise them when low and behold who pulls up behind me but another brother and his family. Triple score!!!!! I run up to the door and ring the doorbell. My nephew answers the door and just stares at me because I'm supposed to be at a hotel in California. (I had to tell my sister that because she asked me point blank where I was staying. I figured I had stayed in CA so it wasn't too far off the truth.) Then my dad comes up behind him and I yell surprise.

The look on my dad's face was worth all the time spent on the CRJ700/900 and all the very long and boring flights I had to do for four days. It was the best Christmas present ever!

So I spent Christmas evening with my family, in an impossible situation where I was certain I wouldn't see anyone but the hotel desk clerk. Thank you Heavenly Father (and mom).

That night it began to snow. It snowed all day. I did get to stop by and say hi to another brother and his family before heading to the airport. I got called to fly to Missoula and back to SLC and then home to Fresno where I finally got to open my own Christmas presents and get kisses from my dogs.