JILL OF ALL TRADES

4090

My wife and I recently returned from a trip to West Virginia to see my daughters. As it fell together our credit card mileage club required us to fly from Orlando to Chicago, and catch a plane back to Charleston. On the way home we boarded in Charleston, flew to Chicago, and then back to Orlando.

All that being said, as we prepared to fly back to Florida, and was ready to board in Charleston, we stepped up to the United Airlines counter, and a middle aged lady named Anna greeted us. She processed our bags, and issued a boarding pass. My wife thanked her, and we proceeded to the security window where the agent checked our ID’s and boarding passes, put our carry on’s upon the conveyor belt, and we walked through the metal detector.

Now we headed towards the gate and having arrived there, we sat down, and I engaged in conversation with a man named Steve who was a licensed marriage and family therapist, and who was also flying to O’Hare International Airport. Interestingly enough, Steve had an internet girlfriend in the Philippines whom he had never met in person, and he was planning to spend three weeks with her.

Suddenly, I looked up and saw the afore mentioned Anna again. She was behind the United Airlines gate counter. As the time ticked closer to our departure, Anna circulated among the passengers, tagged some of the heavier bags, and made the customers aware that these items would have to go in the belly of the plane. Now, Anna got on the microphone and summoned us to the gate.

Having walked through the moveable boarding hallway, we walked through the airplane doorway, and (you guessed it) Anna greeted us, and subsequently could be seen chatting with the stewardesses and the pilot.

With this, my wife and I walked down the aisle, found our seats, and stowed our carry on’s in the overhead storage bins. I was fortunate enough to sit by the window, as I have always enjoyed a window seat. While take off’s and landings cause me a certain amount of anxiety, I love to look at the fluffy cumulus clouds, and the tiny roadways and tinier cars six miles below me.

As we were preparing for takeoff, I glanced out over the tarmac, and noticed someone was seated in the cab of the moveable boarding hallway, and who had already moved it away from the aircraft. And then I realized who that someone was. You guessed it again. Anna had just stood up, and turned to assume her place at the United Airlines baggage counter!

by Bill McDonald, PhD