A Steady Job

After he graduated from the Naval Academy, my husband was off to Navy flight school in Pensacola, Florida. He spent six years as a naval aviator, and in the summer of 1987, he was hired by Delta Airlines. This summer he will begin his twenty-fourth year with Delta and I simply cannot fathom where the time has gone!

During the summer of 1987, the airlines were heavily recruiting military pilots from the Navy flight school in Florida. We had two small children and the idea of another sea deployment was not sitting well with me. My husband and I discussed the pros and cons of raising children in a military career. I really wanted them to grow up near extended family. So we compromised. He would try to get an airline job-we both knew that career also meant time away from family-but with the caveat that we would choose a home close to the Washington, D.C., area so that our son and daughter could be raised near family. An airline job would be a dream come true for us. Tim loved flying and I so desperately wanted to be near family and back home in Maryland.

Tim started the job application process. He had to get a commercial aircraft rating which involved private flying time and a new license. Once that was acquired he sent out applications to all of the major airlines. We were elated when Delta called him for an interview. He headed off to Atlanta for his interview and I waited anxiously for news about how things went. The day of his interview, I woke at 4:04am. I glanced at the clock at precisely that time. It had to be a good omen, 404 was the area code for Atlanta. So I fell back to sleep.

I heard my son moving in his crib and woke again. This time it was 7:27am. Another omen! If my husband were to be hired by Delta, he would begin by flying as a flight engineer on a Boeing 727! I was feeling very lucky and gleefully went to get my now cooing baby boy from his crib.

As the hours in the day went by, I decided to call my mother in Maryland to pass the time. I told her Tim was in Atlanta and I was waiting somewhat patiently for his call. She told me she had dreamt that she saw Tim in an airline uniform and how strange the dream was. We giggled about how the dream might be some sort of omen. I confessed to her my experiences with the clock. A few hours later, my husband called to say that things had gone well. We could expect to hear something in the next few weeks. And so the anxious waiting began.

I remember a morning in early August when my children and I were in the kitchen having breakfast. My husband had left earlier to go to work. The phone rang. I had been so engrossed in the morning routine that I really didn’t give any thought as to who might be calling. My heart began to pound when the woman on the other end said that she was with the human resources department at Delta Airlines and could she please speak with Tim Jarman. I took a very deep breath and calmly explained that he was at work, but I would get a message to him very quickly and have him return her call. My hand was shaking as I hung up the phone.

I dialed the phone as quickly as my shaking hands would allow. “Call her fast,” I said, “And then call me right back.”

Almost twenty-three years have passed since that day. How did they pass so quickly?