A Thanksgiving Note From Diane

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Originally uploaded by Ted Ullrich

My family lives on the East Coast and so I have spent many a holiday in airports, trudging through the crowds of not so festive travelers. After enduring bumper-to-bumper traffic and long lines to check way too much baggage they snail their way through the long security lines. Crying children, no food and/or way too much alcohol make many quite irritable and sometimes downright nasty!

Yet upon boarding the plane the flight crew always greets each with a smile and a kind word. With good humor they resolve conflicts over seat assignments and manage to stuff most of those "carry on" size bags into the overhead compartments. They listen patiently as we complain about the cost of tickets, the condition of the airport, the flight delays, the temperature, the lack of legroom and airline cutbacks.....like there is anything they can do about any of these things!

It always amazes me how they tolerate all that complaining with a smile on their faces and not a cross word to be heard! This is the case year-round, but I think it is especially true during the busy holiday season.

I just want to take this moment to say "thank you" to these wonderful men and women who bring us safely to our family celebrations. I know from some of my clients who work in the airline industry about the grueling schedules with little turn-around time in strange cities.

This Thanksgiving many of you will be inflight while the country lounges stuffed on their couches. You'll arrive at your destination, not to a home-made feast of turkey and pumpkin pie, but to a hotel room and room service (if you are lucky enough to reach your hotel in time). You will have sacrificed your holiday so that we can have ours.

I just want you to know how much you are appreciated! And that is why Monika and I launched Air Vitals. We hope that, in some small way, we are able to make your lives a little more healthful, peaceful and contented. I look forward to hearing from you with your thoughts, needs and ideas.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Diane Whelan, MPH, RD
Co-owner, Air Vitals

A Thanksgiving Note From Monika

In the process of getting started in business, I've done a lot of traveling. It has really opened my eyes to the ins and outs of the aviation industry.

On a red eye flight to Shreveport, I learned that due to heat, my bag had been chosen to be pitched off of the regional flight in Dallas...I had to do my professional presentation in the jeans and t-shirt I'd worn for the trip.

Another time I showed up for a Baltimore-Providence flight, the day before the big Red Sox World Series victory party and, feverish with the flu, had to vie for a slot in the security line with every rabid sports fan who was able to get a seat to the big party in Boston. And I, for some unknown godforsaken reason, had packed a SCREWDRIVER in my bag and had to be escorted out of the line for a personal search and to start over again.

These escapades, well, maybe minus the screwdriver, are just every day business for flight crews.

Cranky travel mates.

Weather delays.

Getting to a destination later than restaurants and room service are open.

Coming home wanting nothing more than to eat real food and wash off that "tarmac face" in the comfort of familiar surroundings. Spending one day off catching up on sleep, another running errands, and the other packing for the next trip.

This is just life for pilots and flight attendants. We tend to romanticize jobs in aviation but the truth is, those jobs are, more often than not, grueling, stressful, and requiring a whole lot of sacrifice.

One of my very good friends, midwinter, moved from Phoenix to Barrow, Alaska, when a job came open that would give her the hours she needed for to finally qualify for an airline job.

Another dear friend has made me keenly aware of the challenges of making and keeping close friends when your job has you working most weekends and holidays, and every single merger and cutback threatens to directly impact your day to day life.

Another friend, married to a pilot, happily moves every few years to accommodate the career changes her husband must accept in order to advance.

Still another inspires me with her cheerful attitude and support of her husband, despite the fact that they have to spend so much time apart from each other.

Knowing all of these people has helped me to realize how important life's simple pleasures can be. Routine. Workouts. Homemade coffee. Adequate sleep. Friends and family who are there 24/7.

The people who live like this, the ones who make sure that when I'm in Baltimore, I make it to Providence, and who cheerfully get me home from Shreveport when I'm sleep deprived and cranky, are people I truly appreciate. No matter what time of day, what the weather, what they personally feel like when they show up for work, I get to my destination safely. And for that I am grateful.

I hope that as Diane and I progress with Air Vitals, that we give back to people who are often treated poorly and whose service is not always adequately appreciated. I hope we give you thoughts and ideas and resources that serve and support you in ways you deserve.

I hope that wherever you are when you read this, that you know you are noticed and very much valued for the hard work that you do.

Happy Thanksgiving, flight crews! :)

Monika M. Woolsey, MS, RD
Co-owner, Air Vitals