Tuesday, March 10, 2009

Barry Surprises Mom on Flight

Most of you have already heard this story, but since this is the family blog and I did agree to support it in 2009, here is my post.

Last week mom had an extended stay in FLL with Mike due to the snow in the Northeast. When mom said she wanted to travel home Wednesday or Thursday, I knew I had a chance to fly with her for the first time. I told her the 11:00 flight on Thursday looked good for travelling and she agreed. I was scheduled to fly that flight from FLL to ATL. I told Mike about my plan and he was ready with the camera! When I was landing in FLL to pick her up, I saw Mike standing on the corner of the parking garage waving. He actually looked like a sniper up there, but he was not arrested. I called Mike and told him everything was going ok, but the gate agent told me she might not get on due to last minute paying passengers. I had a friend watching the computer for me and the flight attendants were constantly checking with the gate agent to see if she would get on. The flight attendants were as excited as I was!

I called mom, told her I was in ATL and asked her if it looked like she would get on. I told her to call me if she got on. She called and told me she was in 26A and I wished her a good flight. I finished running the checklists in the cockpit and just as they were closing the door I went back to the front section of coach class and introduced myself to everyone. Mom immediately looked up in surprise and waved to me. Now what you have to know is that I am not crazy about talking in front of people. I can talk all day long to the passengers from the cockpit looking out the window and not think anything of it. But when I picked up the PA and said "Good Morning, I'm Captain Barry Holmes", suddenly 186 people got deathly quiet and they all stared at me. The only time the Captain comes to the cabin to talk is if something is wrong. You also have to know that I already have "Benign Tremors" in my hand which I inherited from mom. It is much worse if I am drinking caffeine or have my adrenaline rushing. Needless to say, my hand was shaking bad and I was very much aware that I wasn't projecting an air of confidence as the Captain of this 757. What was going to be an extended PA was somewhat shortened so I could hang up the PA and get back to the cockpit.

Basically what I said was this: "Good Morning, I'm Captain Barry Holmes. Our flight today is one hour and 34 minutes and the weather is great. This is an exciting flight for me, that's my mom in 26A! Wave to everyone mom. (She did and the whole airplane clapped for her). She is just now finding out that she will be flying with me for the very first time (another round of applause). I'm not sure why it's taken 28 years to get her to fly with me, must have something to do with scaring her when she was teaching me to drive as a teenager (good laugh). Anyway, this is a special flight for me and I just wanted to thank my mom for always being there for me. This career is not an easy one and she has always been my biggest fan. Thanks mom, I love you and welcome aboard!"

I'm not sure what the passengers next to me were thinking about my shaking hand, but one guy said "don't screw up the landing" and that made me laugh. After hanging up the PA I told him and the crowd around him that I'd rather land at LaGuardia in a snowstorm than mess up a landing with my mom on board, so I"m not feeling ANY pressure here! They all got a big laugh out of that.





The pushback from FLL was uneventful. As we pushed back from the gate I could see Mike again waving and holding his camera. He asked me to wait until the airplane was abeam his position before taking it into the air for the best shot (and not compromising safety of course). It was a nice day and Mike got some great shots of the takeoff. Here is the link to his other shots: http://www.flickr.com/photos/26389813@N06/ We made a Northbound turn after takeoff and I got a nice look at Lago Mar where Mike works. The flight to Atlanta was also uneventful and I had a decent landing to showoff for mom. When I went in the back to say goodbye to the passengers there were a lot of nice comments from the passengers and several congratulating us for finally being able to fly together. I had mom come up to the cockpit for a picture. unfortunately I only had my cellphone camera, but here is our memory of the day!


I've never forgotten flying with Dad in a Cessna in the fall of 1984 out at "Flying W" airport in Medford. This was also a great memory that I'll never forget. Thanks again Mom!


Love,
Barry

Sunday, March 1, 2009

Trash Hunt for God

I decided to escape the city and wander into suburbia this weekend. Aunt Mar's invitation to come to Yardley included fried chicken and birthday cake, so I didn't ask any questions. Little did I know I would be spending the afternoon at Steph's confirmation retreat with "Scary Sister" and then helping complete her community servce hours by going on a trash hunt in the local park!

The retreat with Sister was a very uncomfortable experience that took me back to my Catholic school days. I was waiting for Sister to whip out the ruler when I walked in two minutes late. We hit an awkward note in our small group when Steph had to stand up and introduce her sponsor and say why she chose her. I told her not to say, "My Grammie couldn't be here because she chose to sip cosmos by the pool in Florida, so here is my cousin by default."
As for our community service project, in the words of Uncle Dan, Stephanie was so unhappy about this chore she would "rather have needles put in her eyes." So I tried to make our little chore beareable by creating a catchy little tune I like to call "Trash Hunt for God," which includes a hop skip dance movement. Stephanie was not amused and had her eyes peeled for people she knew. I think it was a very educational experience as I kept telling her if she ever screwed up in life she would be doing this while wearing an orange jump suit on the side of the road!!!

After our hard work we had a nice dinner with Uncle Eric's parents along with Rita and her kids. We sang Happy Bithday to Steph and I thoroughly enjoyed my much deserved ice cream cake! Happy Birthday Steph! Pictures below!!!

Steph receiving her supplies

"Steph you missed one!"









Our first piece of trash....a hoagie wrapper from WaWa






"Weeeeeeeeee I'm just a supervisor....Steph I see some over there!"





I told her God would understand if she left this one...







Aunt Mar was very proud of her Sanitation Specialist





Tuesday, February 24, 2009

Friday, February 20, 2009

Barry's 50th

Hi everyone!
I think its safe to say dad had an eventful 50th birthday. The saturday before his birthday I picked Chris up from Athens and brought him home for "Family Fun Day". All five of us hiked a nearby mountain (about a mile to the top) and then had dinner at Paradise Grille near our house.

On his actual birthday I woke up with him and went to 9 AM mass. Afterwards we stopped by mom's classroom there at church and said hi to her kids. Then I took him to Uncle Mike's favorite restaurant....the Steamhouse for lobster bisque before heading over to the Human Bodies exhibit downtown. Nothing like seeing dead bodies on your 50th! I think he thought I was trying to tell him something! I made sure he took extra notice of what happens to your heart when you eat one too many potato chips!

We got home later that afternoon and had happy hour and dinner out by the pond. We set up some music, had a fire going, and dad opened his cards/gifts from his wonderful family!

Check out pictures from the day here: http://jackiespics.shutterfly.com/1592

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In other news, I started work Tuesday of this week and will post about it either this weekend or next week!

Monday, December 29, 2008

I miss you most, scarecrow!





It was so much fun seeing everyone. Glad Mike didn't need "patches" this year! I left for work at 7:30 this am; Barry & Cassie were drinking coffee and planning their trips home! That's it from Rising Sun!
Kar

Home Safe




Hi all. Thanks again to Mom for having Karen and I home. What a great trip, fun parties and nice to see everyone after so long. We got home safely after a brief delay in Phil. do to a "missing crew member." I wanted to start the Holmes chant when the missing pilot arrived, but nobody else in the terminal knew it.

We touched down about 12:05 a.m. and in bed by 2 a.m. Work 6 p.m. to midnight today, 10:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. Tuesday and have a few photoshoots scheduled for sunset Tues.

Mom, Karen, thanks again for your hospitality and reminding us what Christmas is all about.

Saturday, August 30, 2008

Patrick Football

Hi everyone...Here is a highlight video of Patrick's first game. They lost, but they played well and nobody got hurt too bad!!

Barry