Ruby Jeans Jackson
Amanda Callaway Mitchell is happy with her life. She’s married to a wonderful man, a handsome former professional football player. She’s a mother of two delightful children, and a seasoned flight attendant of thirty-one years with Elite World Airlines. Today, the only thing on Amanda’s mind is commuting from her home in Sarasota, FL to Atlanta so she can work a flight to Rio de Janeiro. This isn’t her regular trip-she swapped with another flight attendant in order to be free for her daughter’s sixteenth birthday party. It is a beautiful day, but don’t be fooled, it is the quiet before the storm. God has another plan for Amanda that was to rock her world...her plane never made it to Rio. Instead, the Captain was forced to make an emergency landing in Jacksonville, FL, one hour after take-off, with the right wing and tail on fire and smoke in the cabin. Caught up in a fiery flight and paralyzed with fear, Amanda’s mind drifted to a safe place, a diary she kept of the good ol’ days-chronicling her life and the lives of five of her best stewardess girlfriends. They were young, beautiful and left no stone unturned as they battled racism, sexism and drug abuse at 37,000 feet. They had countless love affairs that left them unfulfilled and out of control. They fought like cats and dogs among themselves, but always had the other’s back. They shared joy, heartbreak and pain; and there was plenty of each to go around. They lived life in the fast lane. However, as they found out, there’s a price to pay for living in the fast lane-some paid with their lives. Please, sit back, relax and enjoy the flight.
