*Walks in and lies down* I still feel a little icky
and one of my best friends from Continental in-flight training
died a few days ago from liver cancer.
Lloyd Swena was one of the most
positive people I have ever met
in my whole life. I just loved him.
My heart is all crumbly still.
When I was in flight training and living at the Houston Intercontinental Airport Sheraton hotel
he and Tony were in the room next to us.
Every single night at ten they would pound on the wall and yell,
"Goodnight Gretchen! Goodnight Heather!"
We'd do the same and laugh and laugh.
He and Tony and Danny were always pranking all of us.
One time they snuck into an empty classroom at night and our entire
class of fifty came down and had a pajama party!
We had popcorn and soda and they played the movie "Airplane."
Every time the star came out, that brunette actress, they would all yell,
"Gret-chen! Gret-chen!" We laughed so hard.
I was twenty-nine when I got hired which is really old for a new hire
flight attendant. I was very serious in training and never horsed around.
After carrying mail ten years, flying was a dream come true and
I wasn't about to screw it up!
Lloyd would tease me mercilessly all the time
to try to get me to lighten up.
He always made me laugh even
when I tried so hard not to.
The last time I saw him was in 1993 when our old class
was almost all working an airbus from Denver to Chicago.
We had a strong tail wind and got there with a full boat of 340 pax
in 1:50!!! I was working main galley and we barely got
our hot meal served and picked up and no one had time to give me
their liquor money until we landed! I just shoved all of it in my apron
and we all went to the hotel.
I was in my room in my ratty, "Marry Me and Fly Free" tee shirt
and I had $500.00 in cash all over my bed in
neat piles while I filled out my liquor forms.
I had to fill the scan-tron sheet to match the
cash exactly and I was pulling figures out of a hat to match
up the minis, beer and wine amounts.
There was a pounding on the door and I cracked
it open and Lloyd, Tony, Michael, Jan, Theresa, Barbara,
and Danny all burst in and started jumping up and down on
my bed!
The money and change was flying
all around the room and they were chanting,
Gret-chen! Gret-chen! Gret-chen!
I was hollering at them, worried I'd get fired if anyone told on me.
I gave up and threw on my clothes and went out with them
and turned in the money at the airport
the next morning
with my fingers crossed.
Lloyd and I would call each other every six months or so
to stay caught up and now
I will never hear his voice again.
I forgot to tell you that Troy drove down the street and back on Sunday.
It was terrifying and look at this: *Shows head with white hair still standing on end*
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