Turkey Day Thoughts

Unless you are bitter, ungrateful, and hate the idea of cornucopias, Thanksgiving has to rank as the most enjoyable holiday currently on our calender. I say currently as it's important to leave space for potential future holidays, because you never know what might come up. For example, before Christ was born, there was no Christmas. See? Glad I'm here to help. Thanksgiving holds special significance for our country because it's one of the few holidays not attached to specific religion. Ramadan might be great for some, but not everyone can participate. Thanksgiving isn't as discriminatory. I love Thanksgiving more than most simply because I can eat more than most. Being gluttonous is not only fun but it's encouraged at the Thanksgiving table, and I plan on doing my part again this year.

But above all Thanksgiving is, well, a time to be thankful. Over the past 15 months of my life the common theme has really been one of inordinate blessing. Time and again hard work and dedication have paid off in ways I never could have envisioned. I can't help but sit here and feel blessed and fortunate to have landed in such a good situation less than two years after basically packing up shop and starting over in life. I'm now firmly entrenched in a career I love with plenty of exciting prospects on the horizon. I feel overwhelmingly thankful for the incredible amount of good fortune I've experienced, especially over the past few weeks. I'm thankful for a loving and supportive family who seemingly cheer on my every move. I'm thankful for the greatest collection of friends a guy could have. I'm thankful for a company that's provided me with endless opportunity. I'm not thankful for the return of McRib, but that's a whole other story.

I'm especially thankful for the exciting career advancements that are just over the horizon: In my last post I previewed my interview with American Eagle. I originally intended to write a lengthy blog recapping the day, but with my schedule has been out of control since I returned from Dallas. At the time it seemed to be a monumental event in my life, but really it was just another day. The trip overall was an enormous success with the exception of me igniting a bag of popcorn in my hotel microwave and nearly causing complete evacuation. No one on the pilot interview committee said anything about my suit reeking of burnt popcorn, so that's really all that needs to be said about that. So to summarize: I can safely fly airplanes all over the country in some of the worst weather imaginable, but cannot be trusted to successfully prepare a microwavable snack. Important note: there are few smells worse than scorched popcorn, especially in a tightly confined area.

Just one day after I flew back from Dallas, I hopped aboard another plane to interview in Memphis with an airline called Pinnacle. The whole idea with these interviews is to get as many in as you can and leave yourself plenty of options in case one company backs out. I don't have any manslaughter convictions in my past and my driving record's clean, so I'm fairly confident that my offer of employment from American Eagle will hold up, and that's where I'll end up. But just in case, it's good to have a Plan B. We're still waiting for official word from Pinnacle Headquarters, but I enter the holiday weekend with my mind already made up which airline I'll go with.

Receiving an offer to work for either company is icing on the cake: I know I'm one of the luckiest people on the planet, and anything I'm able to do in aviation beyond this year is gravy for me. I have a bizarre habit of looking up aviation accident databases and trying to determine what went wrong in fatal crashes; sometimes I think it could easily have been me and one of my students. I guess we never really know when our number will be called, so in this time of indulging myself in turkey and mashed potatoes, I also am allowing myself to count my many, many blessings like never before.

Blessed beyond measure: It's my mantra for this holiday season, and I hope and pray God continues to guide my path in the world of aviation. I'll be back with another post as I prepare to leave flight instructing and head towards the world of commercial airline transport. Happy Thanksgiving to all my readers, and see you again in a few weeks!