On October 1st I had the pleasure of celebrating my birthday during a World Race travel day. On this day we had a 7 hour flight from Dublin to Dubai. While on the flight to Dubai my squad mates Cindy and Becca asked our flight attended Annolette, if she could do anything special for me on my birthday. She said she would see what she could do. This flight was already spectacular, I had my own TV screen, a window seat, enough leg room to be comfortable and we ate one of the best dinners I have had on the race yet!
A few hours later, Annolette handed me an eye mask and said here, take a rest for a little while. I gratefully accepted the eye mask and nearly fell asleep when Annolette tapped me on the shoulder asking if my seat belt is unbuckled. I told her yes and began to pull up off my eye mask when she said No No, not yet! She then guided me down the aisle. She said ok! Take off the mask! I open my eyes to about a dozen of my squad mates squeezed into the attendant hallway singing Happy Birthday as loud as the can. I then received a delicious piece of fruit pie and another song sung by the squad. I was surprised to say the least and had a grin from ear to ear. Not only was the whole thing Annolette’s idea but she also thought to capture the moment using a Polaroid camera. She handed me a birthday card with birthday wishes from the squad and the photo of the Polaroid. I can say I will never forget this birthday. What could have been a tiring, rather boring birthday was transformed into a once in a lifetime memory with some of the greatest people in the world.
