This Thanksgiving marks an anniversary for a particularly difficult time for me. It was probably one of my most traumatic days. I have the gift of not remembering the bad things so when something stands out, it is for a reason.
It marked a door closing, a friend passing and an unknown path ahead. It was the beginning of a journey with no specific or charted direction, yet it led to wonderful things.
On Thanksgiving of 2004 I retired from my dream job at Delta Air Lines. It was the job that I spent 15 years or better working toward. From my high school years, to my Navy years, to my years flying corporate for oil executives at Atlantic Richfield, it was my goal.
I was in China when I got the call from my father with the news I had been hired by Delta. I was on an ill-conceived trip with my fellow city council members from my then home in Addison, Texas. I couldn’t have been more excited about the news. I had waited five or so years for the airlines to start hiring again and it had finally happened.
This was the culmination of years of plotting and planning and training and filling out applications and waiting for the economy to turn around. It was the job that everyone told me I would never get because I was a girl. In that day and time the airlines didn’t often hire people over the age of 30. As time passed, it came very close to being a job I couldn’t get because of age.
And then I blinked and it was 19 years later, and I chose to retire. 9-11 devastated the airline industry in many ways. It changed the economic climate and it created an atmosphere fraught with suspicion and tension on the flight deck and in the traveling public in general. The act of flying hadn’t changed, but the general nature of the job wasn’t as joyous as it had been.
Because of the economic upheaval, the airlines were struggling and it was easy to see that the near-term future was not bright. The union negotiators were making major concessions about retirement and pay scales. It wasn’t a pretty picture and there was no doubt it was about to get uglier.
I didn’t agonize over it for very long; it was a decision that had to be made pretty quickly. I ran the numbers and it appeared to be the fiscally responsible thing to do. I couldn’t factor in the love I had for what I was doing of the value for the things I didn’t know but would learn.
My last layover with Delta was in Charleston, South Carolina. I was ending a three-day trip and a career. That night prior to my last flight, I got a call from my then partner that our Italian Greyhound needed to be released from her pain. Did I want her to wait until I got back? We had been nursing her along for months with her kidney failure and it was too much to ask of her that she stay with us any longer. It was a painful ending on many levels.
Though you rarely know which window is going to open when one door closes; if you are open to the good things possible, then good things can be anticipated. Who knew that I would have the incredible option of serving the Starkville community through my appointment as CAO? It was never part of my horizon, but when it happened it was a wonderful eight years.
I hadn’t been too worried about finding gainful employment or finding something worthwhile to do. After all I hadn’t spent all those years getting extra education that was worthless. It was just a matter of finding the next best path of the heart.
I had to say too many goodbyes that day 10 years ago. All in all, it was a pretty crappy Thanksgiving holiday, but fortunately being thankful isn’t reserved for the official status of a holiday. I think I have unconsciously been thankful most every day of my life. Starting with being born in this country and being able to follow my own path, there is little for which I should not be giving the universe my eternal gratitude.
Being thankful for every day doesn’t have to be formalized, but it is nice when the holiday allows us to reflect on something we too often keep on the back burner the rest of the year.
The Dispatch Editorial Board is made up of publisher Peter Imes, columnist Slim Smith, managing editor Zack Plair and senior newsroom staff.
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