Flight Benefits

My mom is a huge fan of travelling. HUGE! In fact, she suggested I apply for a job with Delta Air Lines when they opened up a call center on the campus of Weber State University in January 1996 (where I was attending school). Of course, it was good for me to have a job on campus, so my commute time would be minimal, but what she was really looking forward to was the flight benefits that she would receive. For their first trip, my parents went to Europe -to Romania (with a stop in Vienna) in April to pick up my sister, Shanda, who was serving a mission there. My mom graduated from Weber State that June and in August, moved to Alabama (Bama-bama as 3 year old Carson called it) to attend Auburn University to work on her Master's Degree in Marriage and Family Therapy. She (and my dad) used those flight benefits to be able to fly back and forth to see each other. Those flight benefits came in rather handy when we moved to Boise in May 1999 Ryan and my dad (and brother Colle) drove the Penske truck from BYU to our house in Boise, unloaded it, then returned the truck to the Thrifty Rental Car/Penske Truck Rental location at the Boise airport and hopped on a flight back to Salt Lake. And my mom flew up a week later to help us unpack and pick out new furniture and pamper me. Needless to say, she was sad to see me quit in June 1999 when my 6 weeks of maternity leave was up.

Fast forward almost a decade and my sister, Shanda, was encouraged by my mom to use her phone number to apply (for the 2nd time) for a job with JetBlue Airlines. Once again with flight benefits on the brain. And then about a year later, my sister, Keturah, got a job with Skywest Airlines in Denver. My parents are now able to fly free on JetBlue, Skywest and United flights.

So, yesterday morning I got a call from my mom, who was in San Diego for a MFT conference, saying that all the flights into Salt Lake were full, so she was going to fly into Boise and have my dad drive up and pick her up and take her home. A half an hour later, my dad called to let me know that Mom was flying into Boise and he would be driving up - both arriving about 10:30 pm and they most likely wouldn't stay the night. I was excited for the chance to see them both, but saddened that my kids would miss out on the visit. Then, about 1 pm, I got a phone call from Carson, asking if he could hang out at my house and eat dinner with me - he got to be the lucky one to come pick up Mom. My kids were so excited when the doorbell rang at 6:00 pm and Uncle Carson was there to play with them! He even taught Sabrina how to play "Heart and Soul" on the piano.

Kids were vying to sit next to him at dinner, he got to pick our Family Home Evening activity (hand-eye coordination games), no one wanted to go to bed, everyone wanted Carson to tell them a bedtime story, and eventually they did sleep.


Flights were delayed due to weather and airplane issues, so my mom finally arrived at 12:30 am. She got to fly through Denver, so she was able to visit with Keturah for a couple of hours (who was working at the gate for the flight to Boise).

I'll take these unexpected visits any day! Roderic has a request, though. Carson, the next time you come to Boise will you please stay for 3 days and bring a Wii remote control with you so you and Roderic can play?