TWICE IN A LIFETIME

I've been pretty good the last couple of months or so walking outside for my morning 3.5 miles  sometime between 4:30  and 6:15 a.m.  I got kind of lax--okay, let's say it out loud--L A Z Y--during the winter months.  It was sooo easy to crawl out of bed, slip my feet into my walking shoes, and just traipse down to the basement to walk on the treadmill rather than put on my sweats, my reflective winter coat, and brave the chilly dark.

But I love "morning dark"!  It is so comforting even if it is downright cold sometimes.  Yet, I got out of the habit of walking outside when there was always a Netflix episode of something I was into ready and waiting in the CD player downstairs.  Right where I left off.  Untouched, since I am the only person who ever walks on the treadmill OR watches CDs down the basement.

On April 19th  I was coming down the neighborhood path behind the house just as the brilliant sun crested the horizon on the Eastern Plains signaling the start of another glorious day.  At the end of the path when I turned onto the sidewalk to finish the few hundred feet to home, I saw again the full Easter moon in the western sky.   I had admired it the whole way to the interchange before I turned around to walk home.  Only now, it was suspended right over Twin Peaks in an inky sky that set it off to perfection. One hundred eighty degrees to the west of a glorious morning sun, that luminous full moon hovered in concert with it over the Northern Front Range before slipping away into the still dark night shrouding the mountains.

In a flash I thought about that morning years ago when I was driving to work from the Secrest Court house to Super PC Memory on 108th just west of Wadsworth. ( I wrote about this experience in an issue of the Nichols Family News once.  You might remember that article.)

It was pitch black night over the mountains underneath a gloriously full moon, while to the east it was the brilliant sunrise of a new day.  What a juxtaposition!  I had marveled at the sheer splendor of that early morning phenomena, thinking how lucky I had been to see such an occurrence.

A couple of days  after that sighting, I spied a letter to the editor in the Rocky Mountain news written by a guy who had also seen that spectacular moonset/sunrise. In his message he expressed my own feelings of "AWESOME" (which is exactly what that word is supposed to be used for).  For several months after that I tried to "catch" the sun and the moon dancing in the sky like that again.  Then I realized:  that was not a common occurrence. So, I quit perusing the newspaper on a regular basis where I had been checking the times for sunrise and moonset when it was a full moon.

Then....without even thinking about it...there it was again just a few days ago!  I googled sunrise for that Good Friday morning.  Six thirteen a.m. in Johnstown.  And moonset was 6:45 a.m..  So, after the sun was fully up over the horizon, the moon was ready to tuck itself behind the mountains and call it a night.

I wanted to see it again on Saturday as the timing was still within those parameters.  Too bad.  It was totally overcast.  By Sunday that window had closed.

But that's okay.  After I saw that beautiful display--rising sun and setting moon 180 degrees apart from each other so long ago one November--it never occurred to me that it might happen again during a different time of the year.  Amazingly, it did!  I wasn't any less impressed this time than I was the first time I saw that unique display.

I believe the beauty of creation is a constant reminder of divine architecture which not only delights the eye, but gives celestial promise to our worldly home.

There IS a God in heaven!

BACKSTAGE 2019

Last year United posted notice that all 26,000+ flight attendants would be required to attend a three-day training period called BACKSTAGE in Chicago sometime during 2019.  WHY?!?!?!

That didn't sound at all appealing to me.  Is all I could think of was a replication of the two days of colossally boring, dragged out classes for recertification once a year.  Sitting in a classroom setting that is so uninteresting that it is always difficult for me to stay alert and not nod off while I am feigning some sort of attention.   I was hoping THAT training idea would go away!

A few months after the initial announcement, there started to be regular communications about all the progress toward the venue, the preparations, the bidding process to choose when we wanted to attend, etc.  It looked like BACKSTAGE was going to happen.  At least have a beginning.  Similar kinds of  extravaganzas with huge work groups attending together had been implemented before, then quietly went away a few months later when somebody finally determined there was nothing successful about them.  I went to one here in Denver a few years ago.  One of the first sessions.  A lot of employees ended up never having to go.  So, a large number of flight attendants were thinking along those lines and bid to go late in the year.  Sneaky, huh?  They were hoping that by the waning months of 2019, there would BE NO Backstage.

I missed the bidding which was during the time I was off for cataract surgery.  It was my fault.  I had refused to read any mail from United during the time I was recuperating and didn't know anything about it.  So, the company assigned me the month of April.

At first I was torqued that it was so soon.  I was also guilty of thinking maybe it would go away after a few months.  Then I thought, "What the heck.  Just get it over with."  Though I honestly, honestly was irritated that so much money was being invested in this lavishly preposterous endeavor.  Just save all that money, give it to the flight attendants as a bonus, and make us do a CBT for credit with the information they wanted us to know for the latest and greatest customer service:  "core4".

I bid to go the second week in April.  I got my first choice.

It is no secret I was not an easy person to live with during the week prior to my departure for Chicago.  I was full of apprehension for all kinds of situations.  And it came out as cranky, cross, short-tempered, and morose. This wasn't like going on a work trip where I know exactly what I am supposed to do.  I can smile, interact, and be friendly the length of any flight knowing that I am never going to have to worry about whether or not the passengers would seek me out to sit by them during any seminars, be chummy and squeeze in next to me at mealtime, or engage in friendly conversation during the lulls of a convention.

No.  I knew what this was going to be like.  I lived with these same apprehensions in high school and college.  Would I be the only person without a seatmate.  The one sitting alone at the table when the people on both sides of me were attached to and engaged in conversation with their own little group.

It wasn't so bad when I travelled in Corporate America.  I WAS the company.  And there were always clients to hobnob with.  But as soon as I went to United's training center in Chicago in August 2000,  all those former fears surfaced again.  Oh, people are polite.  Cordial.  Friendly even.  But I am not the kind of person who is instantly ensconced into the "in" crowd.

When I looked at the list of who was attending the same week as I was, I saw a couple of flight attendants that I had had more interaction with than nodding at each other in the domicile.  Maybe we could hook up.  Nada.  They had already hooked up with someone else. So, I followed the crowd as the 40 flight attendants boarded the plane at DIA bound for Chicago.  As soon as I deplaned at O'Hare, I hoofed it to the baggage area where we were supposed to register....but everyone got there before me!  Someone in the group knew a shortcut.  No one bothered to put me under their wing and sweep me along with the rest.  Needless to say, I was happy when we got to the Palmer House Hotel in downtown Chicago after our one-hour bus ride from the airport.  Soon I was in my room and knew EXACTLY what to do there to prepare for the next day.  I do THAT all the time.

The next morning...more apprehension.  Another bus ride to the venue:  a converted warehouse at Lexington and Jefferson just outside city proper.  Continental breakfast to begin the day.  And then....someone I had flown with a few years ago--also feeling a little on the outer fringes--said hello.  Though he and I were wearing different colored tags which determined the sequence of the seminars and classes we were to attend, he said he would stick with me.  And he did.  I had a sidekick.  A seat partner.  A confederate.  He even said he didn't want to stay for the party that night and would be taking the first bus back to the hotel.  Fine by me!  That was exactly my plan, too.  Though I had not heard that the reception and party after the dinner for the previous weeks was a drunken hullaballoo, with people throwing up on the bus during the ride back to the hotel, I wasn't interested in staying any longer than I had to.

Then the purpose of the whole gathering began.  And was I ever blown away!  The ENTIRE executive cadre addressed the group of 700 flight attendants during the Main Stage events.  CEO, President, Vice Presidents over different aspects of United, and others from the corporate level who shared what the vision of the company as it moves forward is all about.

The talks were fast paced, entertaining.  The power point presentations were exceptional.  Though the speakers weren't behind a podium, they used teleprompters like in General Conference. They knew their stuff and they believed in what they were "preaching".   In fact I began to think of this three-day deal as United's "General Conference" for its flight attendants!

The word ministering was never used.  But that is exactly what these company executives were asking us to do for the passengers.  They talked about being kind and compassionate.  Being warm and welcoming as our guests come onto the plane.  We are ambassadors for United.  When people see us, do we reflect the values of a positive, professional image and attitude?  (When people see us as members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, do they see Christ's image in our countenance?  Isn't it about the same kind of thing?)  

Focus on families!  They are important.  Give them all the assistance they need.  (I was very pleasantly surprised to find out that the company president and the vice president of marketing both have six children.  These are fairly young men with young families.  Who would have thought!)

When they talked about how to treat other people, it was in the same way Christ treated others.  Listen.  Be empathetic.  Care.  Be calm.  Pay attention to the person.  Share gratitude.

The break out sessions tried to help us remember how important it is to reach out to people even when we are NOT on a plane at work.  "How do you show people you care?"  "What do you do every day to let your family know you love them?"  This one was directed at me.  And I spoke right up:  "I pray every morning for each of them by name as I picture their individual face in my mind's eye."

One of the breakout sessions was about keeping ourselves healthy and strong.  Setting goals.  Self-reflection. Healthy eating with plenty of rest. (Word of Wisdom, anyone?)  Sometimes I forget that the gospel gives us so very much to make our life happy and full of joy.  People were really into these simple principles.  Like they had never heard of them before.

We were shown a video of what the warehouse looked like when they began this project and all it took to transform it into what it became for BACKSTAGE.  Remarkable!  It was classy.  The food was a modern take and stylishly presented.  Everything ran like clockwork.  I was impressed and finally glad that I had the opportunity to go.  It was a good three-day experience.

Bottom line:  I have told everyone that I had been dragging my feet.  "Give us the money and a CBT,"  Then I tell them,  "But after it was over, I thought it was worth the time and any effort on my part."  Besides it WAS mandatory and counts toward one day of requalification this year.  So, in September I will only have one day of tests.

There are plenty of flight attendants who are still hoping that they won't have to go after all when November comes.  Some are calling it the "Princess Party".  Many have heard about the drinking and the dancing after the major dinner.  But I have a whole different outlook now.

GENERAL CONFERENCE never fails to lift me to a higher standard for myself.  United's "General Conference" did the same for my flagging attitude as a flight attendant.

Thank you, United!