Never say never

I reached up and adjusted the overhead vent, made sure my seat belt was secure, pushed the ear buds of my mp3 player into my ears, leaned my head against the cool metal side of the plane and closed my eyes. It had been a long exhausting week of working another Las Vegas trade show for my company. It was good to finally be heading home.

I remember when I was in college working on my B.S. degree. In one particular class I was in, we were having a discussion on jobs and job travel. I knew nothing about job travel because I had never traveled for any of my employers before. Bear in mind that I was 36-years old at the time. The professor was asking each of us our thoughts on relocating and traveling. When it came my turn I proudly blurted out, "well, I have never traveled or flown on a plane in my life and I am never going to either!" I felt so proud of myself for being so adamant in my statement and I truly believed it as well.

My how quickly things change in life. Within the next year after making the above statement about "never traveling or flying on a plane," I was sitting on a 757 en route to San Fransisco for a job interview. It was the first time I had flown on a plane or been anywhere further west than Nashville, TN. In fact, the extent of my travels only included a handful of states that border Tennessee and a bus trip to Washington DC when I was a kid in the 8th grade! To say I was nervous would be a huge understatement.

Flash forward to today. I'm now 42-years old and have been in so many places that I can't even remember them all. I've racked up thousands upon thousands of miles flying the "friendly" skies. Everywhere from Wisconsin, Florida, Texas, Las Vegas, California and several places in between. I have become immune from airplane nervousness. It's just a part of life nowadays.

When I was pulling into my driveway last night after being gone for a week, I could see my family standing at the front door waiting for me. Mary had the Christmas candles lit up in all of the windows and she and Matthew came outside to meet me. I felt like a minor celebrity as I walked through the front door and the kids were jumping up and down yelling "daddy's home, daddy's home!" I hugged and kissed each one of them and was so thankful to have such a wonderful and loving family. I sure have come a long way from that little, grinning, red-headed, diaper wearing 2-year old in the top picture, to the 42-year old seasoned traveler in the bottom picture, that has been married for 23-years, and has 3-children.

The moral of this story: Never say never and always count your blessings.