Home Sweet Home

Los Angeles. Move there? Yes please.

Where oh where do I even start? Let's try the beginning.

I was convinced from the word "Go" that this was going to be a bad trip. I am naturally pessimistic, yes, so add on an ill-planned trip (which makes me highly anxious) and a strange place and you have the perfect recipe for something to go wrong. So there we are sitting at the gate waiting to be called to board the plane. I am staring at my boarding pass, wondering why on earth I do not have a seat assignment. I vaguely remember someone at work telling me that Southwest handles things differently. Hmmm. Okay? Well, since I am not very good at waiting patiently I tell Chris we should probably go ask the guy at the kiosk. "No I think we are okay." The nice little lady sitting next to him overhears our conversation and politely lets us know, yes, we need to go get a seat assignment. Okay, easy enough. Group C section 20. Wonder what that means? At that same moment the young man who had handed me the new boarding pass, picks up the microphone and announces, "Group A Section 1-30 will be boarding now." So I can only assume at this point we will be last to board and will take the last seats- most likely no where near each other on the plane.

Determined to make this a fun trip, I take the camera out of my bag. I am going to do a little photo blogging. It is always okay to come back from a trip with too many pictures, but it is always sad when you realize you forgot to take any along the way. I wanted to make sure we had some good pictures to look back at. Chris chuckles at me as I take a picture of my Group C section 20 boarding pass. I just thought it was something we could look back on and have a few laughs. They finally call us to board. In a rush to get everything back in my bag, my book, my cell phone, gum, my wallet, I had left the camera sitting on the seat. As I am walking down the tunnel to the plane, half moping about being last, the same little lady from earlier is running after me, camera in hand. She wasn't even boarding our flight, just trying to help me once again. I ran towards her, so grateful she saw the camera sitting there. Another lady arrived late for the flight and went into the plane right before me. "Great!" I thought, now there is no chance I will get to sit next to Chris. I searched the plane all the way to the very last row and could not find a seat. Chris had found one near the middle of the plane. "Seriously?!?!" I thought. This cannot get any worse. The flight attendant comes onto the speaker system, "Ma'am, excuse me. We have one seat left up here in business class. You will just need to keep your bag stowed above you." Okay, so maybe I had overreacted a little. I take the middle seat between 2 men. One who had been sitting beside me in the airport, an older man, probably in his eighties, and a middle aged man, probably in his fifties who reminded me a lot of my own dad. I sit down, manage to take a deep breath and sat staring forward. The flight attendant had put my bag up for me, and I was empty handed sitting in my seat. The older man next to me started to make small talk, something about a lucky break. He was nice. There was something unique about him. We ended up talking the entire flight. Three and a half hours.A good friend to the owner of the company I work for, Bud Adams. Grandfather to a guy I went to high school with. Okay, small world, but there was much more to this man. Only man from Houston in the Advertising Hall of Fame. Marathon runner (has runner over 1500 races worldwide). His wife was Miss New York in 1948. The man has never had a sip of alcohol, a cup of coffee, or any drugs or cigarettes and was in the Navy during World War II. The stories he told me and the experiences he shared were just unbelievably inspiring. I found myself wishing the flight were longer! As soon as we got off the plane I couldn't talk fast enough, relaying ever bit of the conversation that I could remember to Chris. I vowed to google him as soon as I got home, if I could remember his name that is. Earl Littman. So I did just that, and the man is a legend. After hearing all about his family, kids and grand kids included, I felt like I knew him, and after reading up on him, I actually stumbled upon his son Michael's blog.  I really hope I am not boring anyone with this story, but I felt so lucky to have sat next to him that afternoon. If you would like to read more about him, here is link to his son's blog where he outlines the lessons taught to him by his father,  House of Brand Enthusion and an excerpt from the American Advertising Federation:

After serving in the U.S. Navy medical corps in World War II, Earl Littman graduated from the Stern School (formerly New York University School of Commerce). In 1955, Littman moved to Houston and opened his own agency, Abbott & Earl, Inc., which merged with Goodwin, Dannenbaum in 1958, becoming Goodwin, Dannenbaum, Littman & Wingfield, Inc. Until January 1992, he served as Chairman of GDL&W, Inc., Houston’s oldest independent agency. During Littman’s tenure, he served many clients, including: Pizza Hut International, Midas Muffler shops, Igloo, Foley Department Stores, Gordon’s Jewelers, Helzberg Jewelers, Texaco, the Houston Astros, the Houston Oilers, and the Houston Police Department. Before being sold to Saatchi and Saatchi, Inc., the agency had a staff of 185 and annual capitalized billings over $180,000,000. Littman is founder of the “Heart & Sole” Fun Run, one of the largest charitable fun runs in the country, raising over $200,000 a year over a ten year period. In 1992, he was given the prestigious Paul Dudley White Award by the Houston Chapter of the American Heart Association for his more than 10 years of outstanding service, and was later honored with the John McMahon Award for 20 years of service to the organization. He was winner of the 1988 Silver Medal from the Houston Advertising Federation for “Man of the Year,” and the 1990 winner of the most prestigious Savvy Award, as one of three of Houston’s outstanding volunteers. Littman also created the longest running public service slogan in Houston for the Houston Police Department. The slogan, “The Badge Means You Care,” has been adopted by other law enforcement forces throughout the U.S. and Canada. In 2002, Earl conceived the idea and concept for starting the P.O.P. Broadcasting Company. The mission for P.O.P. Broadcasting is to become the world’s leading and largest wireless media network. Earl’s personal goal is to be able to change for the better the way global products and brands are marketed at retail.


I hope this helped you understand what I was feeling when I got off the plane that day. What a way to start the trip... and I was worried, ha!  Stay tuned for pics, etc. I am hoping to get those uploaded tonight after our bible study. We did not get home until 9 p.m. last night and had to eat and watch the Bachelorette, of course! : ) Check back tomorrow.