Jet Airliner

Big ol' Jet Airliner. This song keeps up with the ear worm. Ya know that song that just won't leave your thoughts. Keep singing it and hearing it in your head all day long? I'm not even a Steve Miller Band fan but the friging thing won't stop! "But my love light seems so far away And I feel like it's all been done Somebody's tryin' to make me stay You know I've got to be movin' on". Makes me wonder about beginnings and endings, where I started and where will the finish line be? 


Humble beginnings, born and raised in Des Moines Iowa. Middle class family with one sister and two brothers. My father worked really hard to raise the family, traveled on the Big ol' Jet Airliner. In his younger days, hopped the train to get to the job. Many times he would drive, he could save the money it cost to fly and sometimes he would camp instead of spending the jack for a hotel (His name was Jack...I get some kind of kick out of that, Jack brings home the jack). All to give us a beautiful home, picket fence, all the things kids want. We didn't want for much because we had it all. Maybe we didn't know that as kids but we had it better than most. I think about my fathers journeys and wonder what he was thinking while out every week away from his family, working to bring home the jack. That song again, Big ol' jet airliner Don't carry me too far away Oh oh, big ol' jet airliner 'Cause it's here that I've got to stay". 


I have to hand it to my father. He instilled the work ethic in me that keeps me going and gives me the passion to carry on. He was never easy on me either. Just said it like it was. I can remember his look when telling me something after I might have complained about work. He would get up in the morning, settle into his favorite chair, sit with his legs crossed, glasses on the tip of his nose and reading the morning edition of the Des Moines Register.  I would get up with some complaint about work and he wouldn't even look up when he said it..."Jo Ann, if it were easy they could have anybody do it". Yep, that would shut me up and I would go off thinking I needed to work really hard and be better than everybody else. I remember a time when I was working 80 hour weeks and sometime 24 hours straight. I got into my complaining and true to fatherly form..."Jo Ann, they don't call it work for nothing." 


I understand now why he was so straight forward, no sugar coating anything. He appreciated being home for the weekend. Getting the chance to sit in his favorite chair, reading, smoked an occasional cigar when he thought we weren't around. We always smelled it and I love the smell of a good cigar to this day just because of where it takes me. Sunday night or Monday morning he had to go back at it..."Touchin' down in New England town Feeling the heat comin' down I've got to keep on keepin' on You know the big wheel keeps us spinnin' around". Jumpin' Jack Flash is the song that should come to mind when thinking of him. He was always on the go. Never took time for granted. For the short 36-48 hours that he would be home, he would mow the yard, fix that pretty fence, and spend time with us kids. Always had to "keep on keeping' on". 


That is what he was trying to tell me, prepare me for the long haul. Appreciate the job you have and work really hard and enjoy it while you are there. Then when you get home, well...Oh oh, big ol' jet airliner Carry me to my home Oh oh, big ol' jet airliner 'Cause it's there that I belong". When you work really hard and give all you can give, it makes you appreciate what you have all the more. The harder you work the more you have to love and the more you will appreciate it, kinda like "Ridin' high, I got tears in my eyes You know you got to go through hell before you get to heaven".


Well, here I am, going through hell to get to heaven, looking up at him and thanking him for showing me the way. "I got to go out and make my way I might get rich you know I might get busted".


Thanks Dad, this one is for you!


Jo Ann