Parrot Nation

I wrote this piece last year as an entry into a writing contest that posed the question, “When did you first realize that you had become a grown-up?” Obviously it didn’t win because if it had, you’d have known about it. For those of you who don’t know, I am an International Flight Attendant when I’m not writing or cleaning up parrot poop. It’s never been published before and I think it’s a pretty good piece so I’m putting it here:

Flying Into the Side of Life

By Patricia Sund

Six months after September 11, 2001, I found myself speaking with a Psychologist about why I found it difficult to leave the house. About how I felt I should be “over it” by now. About why I could go to work and fly for days at a time as a Flight Attendant and yet, when I returned home to the relative…