Over fourteen years ago, we were the only two standby
passengers not to get on the last flight of the day from JFK to Salt Lake
City. We had worked all day, were
exhausted and just wanted to get home. We
didn’t know each other but started talking and learned that Jet Blue had a
direct flight to SLC. We had a couple of
hours to spare so decided to eat dinner together. I remember like it was yesterday, we ordered
California rolls, cucumber rolls and edamame.
You had never tried edamame and from the first one, you were
hooked. Every time that we had Japanese
food since then, you ordered some and would thank me for introducing you to
this delicious food. It was something so
small but your excitement over it would always bring a smile to my face.
We went to the gate to catch our flight and the gate agent
assigned us seats next to each other.
Although we were exhausted, we talked non-stop the entire flight. It was like catching up with an old
friend. When we landed, we knew because
of the late departure out of JFK that we had missed our connecting flights,
mine to Fresno and yours to Spokane. We
decided to go downstairs and sleep in the flight attendant lounge. Rather than sleep, we stayed up talking until
about 4am. We learned that we connected
on a spiritual level. We were so
exhausted but wanted to keep talking because of this connection. You were my
kindred spirit and from that day, we called each other soul sisters.  |
| Snowboarding fun at Brighton. |
There are so many memories that if I wrote them down, it
would turn into a novel. There were
tears, happiness, joy, laughter, growth, sisterhood. I will cherish each of them. You made me a better person. We had never flown a trip together in the
years we knew each other. I picked one
up in the fall of 2011 because there was the rare opening on one of your
trips. Just working that trip inspired
me to write a blog about you back then. It was
pouring rain in the jetway and the cover didn’t reach far enough to the plane so
the passengers would get wet. What did you
do? Well, you did what Molly would do,
you pulled out an umbrella and held it over the passengers heads while they
boarded and you got drenched. We put red
blankets down as a “red carpet” to welcome them aboard. I watched how you interacted with the
passengers through the entire trip and you, that’s right, YOU, inspired me to
be a better flight attendant. I started
loving my job even more after I watched you and started using what you had
taught me.
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| Snowshoeing in the Wasatch Mountains. |
You took me rock climbing for the first time this past
July. I have a huge fear of heights and
you were so encouraging and patient. There
I was so scared and shaking and looked down at you and at that point, I was
only 10 feet off the ground. You
encouraged me to keep going to the top.
I was about half way up when I about lost it. I felt I couldn’t get to the top and I could
hear you at the bottom telling me I could do it. I sat there hugging the wall as tight as I
could with tears in my eyes and thought to myself “you can do this! Here Molly
is fighting cancer, is so brave and just climbed it herself. Face
your fear of heights and get your ass up that wall!” I did it! I made it to the top because of
you. You helped me. You were so proud of me and I was proud of
me. You inspired me in so many ways
Molly.
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| Molly in action. |
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| Molly scaled the wall like a pro. |
You would walk into a room and instantly there was
happiness. You were light and love and
everyone could feel it. Even if you
weren’t dancing or skipping around, your aura was radiating, we could feel that
coming off of you. You even inspired
people you never met. I don’t know how
many people know but every single flight that you worked, you received at least
one passenger compliment letter. That is
unheard of! Sometimes you would get
three on a flight! You received several
awards because of it.
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| Disc golfing fun with Molly and Drew in Brighton. |
I could go on and on.
I would always tell you how special you were and you would always laugh
and say “Lisa, you are my biggest cheerleader.”
I can hear you laughing now. You
lived life, really and truly lived life, and refused to let cancer hold you back. You were a beautiful brave warrior. You were special and enlightened and I am so
honored that I was a part of it, that I was given the gift of your friendship
and sisterhood. You loved the name I
gave you in July and it is so fitting and perfect for you Molly Lama. Thank you for sharing your love and light
with the world. I know you are still
with us in spirit and we each learned lessons and grew because of you.
I love you infinitely.
My soul sister, my kindred spirit, my Molly Lama.
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| Molly never let anything bring her down. What a fun night! :) |
