Almost Time to Go Home

I'm ready to head East. Just checked my gate number because DFW Airport is so spread out, in a circular way, that there is no "main gate" for American Airlines flights -- various entry points so you need to know your gate when you arrive, unless of course, you want to hike a  mile or two. I'm set and a dozen hours or so before the flight it's on time.

I did get to interview a rescue swimmer -- she was very soft-spoken, very modest and very impressive. She made a joke that she got her rescue swimmer training early at the hands of her older brother who would continually dunk her and try to hold her head underwater. The training has a 70 percent attrition rate. Of 300 Coast Guard Rescue Swimmers, four are women. When we were finished, we shook hands and I told her that I hope to never meet her professionally.

And I learned the motto of the Coast Guard is Semper Paratus -- Always Ready.

We spent time with this other young woman who we've known for five years -- since she was a college student, we've seen her once a year, and she came into the press room just absolutely glowing... because she had her dream come true and gotten hired by an airline. Amy and I call her our pretend, adopted daughter. Her name is Leah, and Amy has a daughter Leah as well. We are so proud of her and happy for her. She wrote an article for our Daily about getting hired, and I told her that normally I would have deleted most of the exclamation marks (like after every sentence), but I knew she really meant them so I left them all in.

I'll be thinking about her when we land at LGA tomorrow because she wrote, "My best moment so far was one of my first trips flying into LaGuardia Airport: for a brief moment, I glanced at the gorgeous New York skyline at daybreak and had one of those breathtaking realizations that I was flying a jet -- I had finally made it!"

I believe there's some Yiddish word that means weepy with happiness, and that's how I feel about Leah. I've just checked on line and I believe I mean:

Kvell — Extremely proud. Really set aside for parental pride when a child does something amazing.

I'm kvellling.