A big milestone
I cried today when I boarded my Delta flight to New Orleans.
When the gate agent scanned my ticket, she said “Congratulations…”
I thought her next words were going to be“…on being a Platinum Medallion,” but instead she said, “on hitting your million miler status!”
I paused. “Really? This one is it?”
“Yep, you earned it today… on this flight.” I smiled and said thank you.
And then I sort of skipped down the jetway. By the time I hit the airplane door, I had a few tears in my eyes. Because even if this is just a way to keep track of customer loyalty, I can’t help but think what ALL of those miles actually represent.
✈️ It’s my childhood move to Vienna when my Dad was smart enough to start my frequent flier mile account. And that ignited my love for all things travel.
✈️ It’s the over 20+ moves in between the ages of 12 and 42.
✈️ It’s the countless flights that I had to see Idris in the 4.5 years where we were in a long distance relationship. And the lifeline for the months that we went without seeing each other.
✈️ It’s 2 evacuations from Egypt and the summer with 52 flights that I spent on my “evacuation tour” of the US visiting every friend and family member I have
✈️ It’s the countless trips I’ve made to surprise my Mom or Grandma for the holidays or their birthdays
✈️ It’s a memory of transatlantic flights where people smoked on the planes, had paper tickets, and I couldn’t write this and post it with WiFi while 30,000 feet in the air.
✈️ It’s the ski vacations and time spent traveling with an entire family that values and loves to travel, including the younger generations of my niece and nephew.
✈️ It’s the health wake up call that was prompted after many embarrassing flights asking for a seat belt extender and the motivation to just not feel uncomfortable when I traveled anymore. And the celebration of all the flights in the past year with this change.
✈️ It’s the odyssey of 48 hours of trying to get home for my mom’s 50th birthday on 9/13/2001, the initial day the airports opened after 9/11 and witnessing some of the best humanity could show us.
✈️ It’s flying into CVG during a 3-day blizzard, getting stranded at the airport and becoming super creative as I tried to make Christmas with my family and survive the Lord Of the Flies situation of an airport with no food, drinks, or way to leave.
✈️ It’s the weddings around the world that I have been lucky to attend and grateful to help celebrate the new chapter of many of my best friends’ loves and lives.
✈️ It’s the funeral for my Grandpa that had me fly back from Australia, to Egypt, to LA for one of the saddest days of my life.
✈️ It’s the countless trips to the Caribbean, Europe, and South America that I have now managed to make my fitting career.
This milestone is more than just a number. It’s a culmination of a lot of memories, a lot of great, some bad, and a lifetime spent doing what I love most.
