Here are a few updates:
First and foremost, I FINALLY GOT MY TRANSFER!! After 22 looooong months, I was awarded my transfer to Salt Lake City. No more commuting! This is HUGE!!! Can I just say that being able to DRIVE to work vs. FLY to work is unbelievably wonderful.
My family is doing well. Little Stella is healthy and strong. Her whole experience in ICU changed her. She was always a very loving little girl, but she is now more demonstrative and open with her affections. She and I have an even stronger bond. The Lord was incredibly merciful and spared that precious life. Not a day goes by where I don't thank Him and express my sincerest love and gratitude for His tender mercies.
Aja needs one more (at least) heart procedure. She is planning on June for the surgery and we're hopeful that this will alleviate the problem, or at least get her in the right direction for healing.
We went to Disneyland with 3 of our grandchildren. We had a BLAST, but...it was exhausting!! The kids were perfect! They were like little energizer bunnies who didn't stop until we got back to the hotel...then they dropped...Brad and I were totally exhausted, but it was totally worth every smile from those sweet kids.
I've been flying like crazy. That's a good thing, but again, exhausting at times.
My last 4 day trip was very eventful, to say the least...
It started out on kind of a bad foot. We were delayed from the start about 2 hours. I was working our smallest plane in the fleet which is our little Turbo Prop which holds 30 passengers total. I LOVE this plane! It's loud, bumpy and small but for some reason, so much fun. With 30 passengers, I am usually able to visit with some of my passengers and I try to make their experience a positive one.
We finally boarded and I ended up with only 16 passengers. As we were literally lifting off the runway, about 3 min. into the flight, my cabin started to fill up with smoke. I immediately began running the procedures through my head for a smoke-filled cabin. My heart rate jumped and all I could do was tell myself to stay calm and remember the training I have received. I'll spare the details, but, my passengers were AMAZING!! They followed my commands and helped me try to locate the source of any fire (there were no flames or fire). They remained calm and, even though there were a few tears and I could see the fear on their faces, they did not panic and they listened to me. Ultimately, we returned to the airport (it was a 13 min. flight in total) and we evacuated normally.
I learned a lot in those 13 minutes. I realized that it is VERY easy to become complacent and comfortable because an experience like I had, is not the norm. In 25 years in this industry, I have NEVER had anything like this happen. I realized that NOT paying attention to details can kill you and by PAYING attention to details, your chances of survival are greatly increased.
It made me ponder my life...how often do we wake up in the morning and "assume" that we will make it to another day?... That when I get in the car, I will get to my destination and then back home with no incident...and, how often have I gotten on a flight and rushed through my pre-flights? It is so easy to become complacent with the everyday details of life, but it's the details that make a difference.
I am SO thankful that I had the experience I did on my flight. I'm especially thankful that nobody was hurt or injured and that we landed safely. I am truly grateful for the intense training that we have as flight attendants and that my company never lets up on us! As difficult as it can be, our training really kicks in and in that crisis I knew exactly what to do...I can always do better, but my training definitely worked. So kudos to SkyWest Airlines!! What an amazing training department!
I'm thankful for the lesson of complacency that I learned that day. I can only hope and pray that I will always pay attention to the details and never take things for granted. I prayed a lot on that flight and asked for Heavenly Father's help...He, of course, pulled me through.
May The Lord bless us all and may we never take anything for granted.
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