Living In A Time Machine ?

@TheAirPro                                        BLOG  (6)                                                       13/3/2012

Welcome to @TheAirPro

So often I have wondered about the dimension beyond Earth.

Here I was working at 12 000 ft. above the sea, walking my ways in a totally foreign atmosphere, breathing artificial air,  touching the dryness of my skin, smelling jet fuel and airplane antiseptics… and always with the adrenaline flowing.

Flying back and forth, from one time zone to the other.

Was I missing on something?

In the Coach cabin, after dinner had been served and the movie screen announced  THE END, it was time to tuck our passengers into some unhappy comfort. Most had slumbered into a forced somnolence, often disturbed by the closeness of others, as this imaginary diameter around one’s own privacy was in jeopardy, causing a definite awareness in a semi-sleep.

It was in the middle of a New York night.

That is when the crew would finally have a chance to rest in a well deserved pause.

For me, it was a cigarette or a morsel of a crew meal I would negligently pick at, standing up in the galley, on full flights. I was extremely on guard then …checking for negligence.

The Boeing 707 had only overhead racks thus forbidding the stowage of heavy objects. Hand luggage had to be placed underneath the seat in front…giving little room for feet. 

Seat-belts always a priority. Making sure they were fastened.

Ashtrays were regularly controlled. 

Lavatories often cleaned.

Security on board was a major concern...no matter how routinuous it became.

For me, when the signs of exhaustion were pulling me down, I would choose to take rounds and inspect the well-being of “my” passengers. That was the only way I could fight that fatigue, yes!

And I was getting the hang of it. It would become a habit.

Those who work at night know the tricks and learn to accommodate the passing of time when the rest of the world is in dreamland!

Understanding that fatigue coincides with low blood pressure at some point during a night…and after awhile, it would go up again. I knew I would find the renewed energy, enough to “survive” the last hours of flight.

So I slowly moved from one row to next, observing the multitude of faces.

It was not difficult to observe or recognize  the various levels of emotions or physical states…while straightening a pillow, pulling a blanket up or just caressing slightly the head of a child to soothe its efforts at falling asleep.

I was working on top of the world and learning to accommodate my whole being to the height, the time and the people around me with whom I was sharing an instant of their lives.

That was the University Of Life and I was an extremely curious student. I was given the opportunity to study humans without them realizing how open they were.

And at the same time, I was also growing up.

So…who cared about time difference then?

There is so much in the world for us all if we only have the eyes to see it, and the heart to love it, and the hand to gather it to ourselves.

                                          -  Lucy Maud Montgomery  -