Not everything on social media is real
the illusion or the narrative
Let me first say YES! I am guilty of portraying a false narrative or using a smokescreen on the socials especially on my Instagram(s).
There have been times when it’s very intentional and times where it’s easier to post something rather than go silent…because if I am posting that means all is A OKAY…right?
If you have read my post, from a year ago, when things were far from good. It was clear on my socials and now when I look back through my camera roll there are very few pictures of me during that time. I love a good selfie and have no shame in my selfie game. The other being when my friends noticed that I wasn’t posting or that I was very much disengaged in my social media interactions including posts and stories which alerted them to know not all was well in Andrea’s world.
Fast forward to now present day when I knew I had some big life things in the works and wasn’t quite ready to share, hell I am not sure I am ready now. But I know the inevitable will happen a slip of the tongue or someone seeing me and connecting the dots then BAM its out!
I knew I had to be intentional in my posting. While you may have seen my usual posts and stories of Stella, Muffin, and the garden here at home this past month. I can assure you I was 2,000 miles away from home doing something completely different than what you were seeing.
Oh, so you’re still reading to see where and what the hell I was doing?
I was in Dallas; Tx and I gained a new sparkly set of Flight Attendant Wings from Southwest Airlines.
Yup, you heard it here first!!
Now while you might be thinking oh a month…no biggie. On the contrary it’s been 9 months in the making and intentionally not sharing any part of this current adventure on any social media. If you’ve found my TikTok that is the one and only hint that has been given this week.
We all need to protect our peace and lives at times and this one was extra special and once again not the easiest undertaking. Leave it to me to never find something easy.
I applied back in January. A long shot of applying the application window opens for about 4 hours and if you are lucky enough to get in with the system repeatedly crashing, consider yourself lucky! I was at the two-hour mark of attempts when my application was submitted, and the waiting began. I would be 1 of 18,000 applicants to make it into the que. 1 of 18,000!! April came and one day out of the blue I was invited directly to Dallas for an in-person interview. I by passed the phone and or video interview. As in do not stop, do not collect anything, direct to DAL! I flew to Dallas on April 16 for my April 17th interview. With 100 other hopefuls of getting through the interview process. I was finally called and as I navigated the recent gap in my resume and answered the questions some hard some easy, my interviewers looked and me and said Andrea, we would like to offer you a CJO today! You know I cried! I was off to the next step and paperwork!
This is when I would begin actually working at the coffee shop. There was no timeline as to when training would be, just that it would be before the end of the year. Summer passed and I watched the FB pages and watched the timeline and knew my time was close and then on a Friday afternoon in Target I got the email! August 21, 2023, with my class assignment and start time! I had 3 weeks to prepare and adjust and to study the requirements of what I needed to know on day 1. This included 5 pages of announcements, airport codes, and acronyms. Luckily, I had a leg up on the latter. Ida listened for hours as I memorized the announcements. I would be tested on day 3 of training, and pass.
August 20th I was up early and dropped off at 0400 at PDX and I was off for the next month of drills, tests, studying, and meeting some incredible people. All while continuously posting deceiving posts on social media.
Here I am a month later, an Official New Flight Attendant at Southwest Airlines and going out on my first trip today since hanging up my wings in August of 2018.
I never thought I would get another opportunity but here I am chasing airplanes and dreams all the way up to 40,000 ft and across the country. While nothing is certain in Aviation it is a career of love, love of the lifestyle, airplanes, and the adventures. It may never make me financially rich, but it has in so many other ways.
See you in the friendly skies!
To those that have kept my secret, supported me, helped take care of Stella, listened to endless announcements, and love me. Thank you from the very bottom of my heart. This would not have been possible without you all.
Glad your back in the skies 🙌