At the age of 51 I find myself rudderless, but not directionless. I know where I want to go, I'm just not sure exactly how I'm going to get there. Not a new feeling for me, actually - I've never really had a specific direction
for my life. I've always just taken whatever route appealed to me at the time and then just went with the flow from there. Usually, however, those routes have not been exactly what one would consider
"typical".
Career:
While most of my friends were getting married or involved
in serious relationships right out of college, I was out there flitting from
one job opportunity to the next, sampling the smorgasbord of life. Nothing
totally *fit* me though - advertising sales jobs, military marketing,
hospitality industry sales, public relations, modeling...I liked different
aspects of each one, but never found one that seemed to be completely ME. Then,
thanks to an attempt to force a relationship that was going nowhere, I came
across an ad for becoming a flight attendant with a major airline. Hmmm.... now
THIS might be worth a look-see! Let's just see how quickly the boyfriend
"gets off the pot" and gets serious when he thinks I might actually
be moving away to a big city with a glamorous career. So I applied, interviewed
and to my utter shock and amazement was actually offered a flight attendant
training slot. WHOA people - I wasn't really serious here... or
was I??! The news that I was offered the job didn't seem to even jolt the
boyfriend one iota - so obviously that was a go-nowhere situation. And with the
advent of a new and curmudgeonly boss, the current job I was in was rapidly
losing it's appeal. Could I... should I...?? Do I seriously uproot myself and
put myself into a career that doesn't even require the college diploma I'd
worked so hard to earn? A quick phone call to my ever-wise mom, a woman who had
definitely lived her own life by taking chances, only served to encourage
me further. "You can always go back to the career you were doing, but you
may never get THIS opportunity ever again. Now, while you are single and
unattached, is the perfect time for you to try things like this!" And
so.... with those words of wisdom ringing in my ears, I picked up the phone
once again and called the airline training center, setting up an official
training date.
Suffice it to say that I surprised myself by
totally loving that job. The flight attendant career ended up being a perfect
fit for me at that time of my life. I was based in New York City, got an
apartment with another flight attendant and spent both my free and working time
jetting all over the world visiting a variety of places and friends and just
plain having fun. The lifestyle allowed me the opportunity to meet and date a variety of
different men, as well....
Social Life:
After years of flitting around here and there and a
number of short, non-serious relationships, I was starting to get bored. I
wanted something more substantial.... a guy I could actually share a life and
start a family with. Easier said than done at my age, though. I was now 29 and most of the appealing guys my age had already settled down... or
weren't looking for anything serious. I began to resign myself to the fact that
I just might end up as that old flight attendant cliche' - the single "Seniorita"
living in a condo with nothing but cats for company.. Then, I met my
future husband..!
I was on temporary furlough with my job at the
moment, so with nothing better to do, offered to help my dear friend drive her
car from Florida back to her hometown in Kingsville, Texas, where she was
starting a new job. For those of you who've never been there, let me
explain. Kingsville is a small town.. very small. At the time I don't think it
even had a mall or it's own newspaper. But it did have one thing. A navy
pilot training base! Woo Hoo! Young, hot, single guys everywhere. Apparently single, attractive women were at a premium in that town, so upon
arrival my friend and I were in hog heaven! We were soon invited to a squadron
picnic on the base and out of boredom,
fortuitously decided to attend. Upon our arrival we soon learned we were the
only single females at the event. Oh yeah! After awhile, however, I realized
that most of these wanna-be pilot types were all quite a bit younger than me.
They had joined the military and started flight school right after college.
They were still fun, but didn't have a lot in common with me. I eventually
excused myself to go to the restroom in the officer's club. Upon my exit, I decided
to stop and get myself a cocktail at the bar. There was only one other person
at the bar that day - everyone else was still at the picnic. I wondered what
this tall, dark haired guy wearing a red football jersey, jeans and snakeskin
cowboy boots bellied up at the bar was doing at this event. Definitely not
one of the flight students wearing the pre-requisite plaid shorts, sandals
and polo shirt. No... this guy must work at the club or be a grounds keeper, caretaker
or something. Feeling bold and friendly, I introduced myself while waiting for
my drink. We chatted briefly - just long enough for me to learn that he was a
student. But older than the others as he was going through pilot training after
already having been a backseater/navigator in a fighter squadron. And just a year older than me. My
interest was piqued, to say the least - however despite the lack of a wedding
band (which doesn't mean much with pilots - they don't wear them for safety
reasons when they fly) the guy just didn't seem that interested in
conversing... or in me. So, after paying for my drink I nonchalantly said
my goodbyes and told him I was going to go look for my friend, then returned to the
picnic outside. And that was the end of that....
Or so I thought! A few days later my friend and I decided to ride
bikes over to visit some student pilots she knew, only to find upon our arrival
that they weren't home. The door at the apartment next to theirs was open,
however, with sounds of a football game emanating from it, so my friend decided
to poke her head in and ask about the whereabouts of the guys we came to visit.
The tenant of the apartment invited us in and to my surprise I recognized the
cowboy boot guy from the O-Club bar a few days back! And even more surprising,
apparently my friend knew him! "Hey!! I didn't know you lived here
too - we came over looking for Rocky and Scott but they weren't there. Do
you happen to know where they are? And, oh, by the way, this is my friend,
Diane." Tom and I both smiled at each other with a look of
recognition in our eyes. "So, I see you found your friend that day."
"Yep". "Well, the guys are flying tonight so won't be
home, but you are free to join me if you want - I just ordered some pizza and
was going to watch a movie on t.v. after the game." "Uh...
ok."
So that's how it all started. Tom and I ended up hitting it off much better than we had at our initial meeting. Maybe it was the addition of my girlfriend to take the edge off, but whatever it was, I was noticing some definite chemistry. Tom had more in common with me than I realized. He had been an east coast based F-14 Tomcat Rio - just like my previous longterm boyfriend. (they didn't know each other, though). He had parents who were “older”, too (my mom was 40 when she had me, his was 42 when he was born!), we liked the same music – reggae, Buffett, jazz, country…Anyway, before the night was done, I think my poor friend was feeling a bit like a third thumb as Tom and I definitely were spiking an interest in each other. As the evening wore on and we were discussing astronomy, he asked if I wanted to see the constellations on a device he had that would project them onto the ceiling. By this time, my friend was fast asleep on the sofa in the other room. Upon my agreement, Tom set up the “star machine” and we both cuddled in close as he explained about what we were looking at. Then, at one perfectly opportune moment, he simply turned his head and kissed me. A long, deep, romantic soul-searching kiss that seared me right down to my curled up toes! That was it – from that moment on, I was a goner. I was completely head over heels about this guy. And despite a crazy on-again, off-again relationship that happily finally culminated in our marriage 7 years later - with me at the ripe old age of 36 - I still am crazy about that man - and he still curls my toes, too!
So that's how it all started. Tom and I ended up hitting it off much better than we had at our initial meeting. Maybe it was the addition of my girlfriend to take the edge off, but whatever it was, I was noticing some definite chemistry. Tom had more in common with me than I realized. He had been an east coast based F-14 Tomcat Rio - just like my previous longterm boyfriend. (they didn't know each other, though). He had parents who were “older”, too (my mom was 40 when she had me, his was 42 when he was born!), we liked the same music – reggae, Buffett, jazz, country…Anyway, before the night was done, I think my poor friend was feeling a bit like a third thumb as Tom and I definitely were spiking an interest in each other. As the evening wore on and we were discussing astronomy, he asked if I wanted to see the constellations on a device he had that would project them onto the ceiling. By this time, my friend was fast asleep on the sofa in the other room. Upon my agreement, Tom set up the “star machine” and we both cuddled in close as he explained about what we were looking at. Then, at one perfectly opportune moment, he simply turned his head and kissed me. A long, deep, romantic soul-searching kiss that seared me right down to my curled up toes! That was it – from that moment on, I was a goner. I was completely head over heels about this guy. And despite a crazy on-again, off-again relationship that happily finally culminated in our marriage 7 years later - with me at the ripe old age of 36 - I still am crazy about that man - and he still curls my toes, too!
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