Tying Up Loose Ends

 

First of all I want to start with something I had meant to finish with in the last segment...

Working for Pan Am gave me one of the greatest gifts and has contributed  largely to who I am... I have a sense of the world and the people in it...

In addition it afforded me the luxury of traveling and making new friends I might have never had the chance to meet and having the adventures that have become treasured memories...  One of the greatest lessons I learned on my round the world fling is that your attitude is what can sometimes make the difference between having an ordeal and an adventure... because things don't always go as planned and sometimes there is no Plan B immediately available, so you have to improvise... with the right frame of mind and attitude. When everything ended with Pan Am a lot of people I knew were in limbo between trapezes (some of them still are)... I was not exactly sure what I was going to do either... but I had to jump and let go... it was really scary at times... but I did it alone, I did it broke and I did it sometimes really exhausted and wanting to cry... but I did it and found a new way by starting all over again and writing a new story. I made many mistakes on the way and you can't erase them because otherwise you would loose the wisdom and experience you found because of those mistakes...

So today I'm tying up some of the loose ends from the past to share with you here... because I think I've already shared most of the fun interesting things from my past and starting next month my writing here is going to focus almost exclusively on the present and the future... unless I think of something that is relevant to revisit.

A few people (who know me) have reached out to me via comments or e-mail and asked why I have written about my experiences about this, that and the other thing... and frankly I made a decision not to share every detail of my life because it was either too painful, personal or frankly boring in my opinion... I'm not going to write about people and situations that I hated...

OK so that being said there are are a few things that in my opinion did not have enough substance to them to warrant an entire blog...but... some of the things that I've done that I liked... if not loved doing was... 

I was a life guard...

and not only did it give me a great tan... but I worked with fun people and from that I ended up coaching for the Special Olympics once... and I was a lifeguard at the Los Angeles Olympics  for water events

I've been asked probably a million times why trained athletes would need a paid lifeguard at these events... it's necessary for insurance purposes. Luckily nothing of any consequence happened... and I got paid rather well and had a pass for all the other events when I was not working.

I also worked as a fashion model...

That lead to television commercial work... (this and a daytime drama I was in for a year lead to  being recognized in supermarkets, cabs and my dry cleaner asking for my head shot for his wall of fame)... that lead to stunt double work (that I've discussed previously... and the vocal and music work I still do.

Somewhere in all of this after Pan Am I worked briefly for Calvin Klein...I have nothing nice to say about any of the people or the experiences here... so I'm going to move on to... I had a few other misbegotten career moves... and it was either not a good fit with the profession or people so I think it's all best left unsaid... and that's why I never wrote about some of this previously.

But I did have a rather exciting side gig for several years... I worked as a courier for an auction house and eventually a museum...and transported  valuable art and objects around the world... because many of the things that I carried were valued at over $1,000,000.00 I was required to carry a gun so I was given a permit after training on how to use it. (I'm eternally grateful and lucky that I've never had to use it)... if something was deemed priceless and deemed irreplaceable I had to travel with an armed (undercover) guard and fly on a cargo aircraft... It was better on the upper deck of a 747 because there were windows.. but there is a bathroom and a small galley to keep the food you carried on and decent seats... and usually the cockpit crew came back and visited on long flights.

It was a little nerve racking until you got whatever you were carrying to it's destination... but one of the benefits of this that I remember best was being given an after hours tour of The Louvre and going to the places not open to the public (the basement of The Louvre museum is amazing)

If I had to share my absolute favorite job it would be something that I got paid to do what I loved doing best... When I was on the US Ski Team... I was a member of The Ski Patrol and taught skiing when I was trying to qualify for a spot on the Olympic team... I did not make the cut twice due to a legal issue once (maybe technicality is a better word) and my performance and ranking  the second time... But I've never enjoyed not being a success at something more than I I did  during my brief skiing career.

So I landed on my feet... sometimes I fell down again... you just have to dust your self off and get up and try again... eventually you might hit the jackpot.

So I'm still writing the story of my life with the main character (me) dreaming my dreams and planning my plans and not wasting one minute thinking about what the other story endings could be if I had taken another path. It's important to celebrate not only how far you came but who you have become and who you could have become and fought not to be... One of the things that I've learned going back and thinking about all this and sharing with you is that I learned that the things about myself that I thought were flaws or weaknesses were just me and  who I am... and I like them.

Next time... I'll start a new chapter here with the things and people that are good for you, good to you and good for your soul and who and what I want along for the next part of the journey.

 

I'll start with... Don't allow waiting for anyone or anything to become a habit...Live your dreams and take risks... Life is happening now... Don't look back unless there is something there to help you navigate the road ahead...

See you next time.