Me and the Sky - Jenn Colella,'Come From Away' Company

[00:02.54]My parents must have thought they had a crazy kid
[00:13.14]'Cause I was one of those kids who always knew what I wanted
[00:19.98]They took me down to the airport to see all the planes departing
[00:25.24]Watching them fly something inside of me was starting
[00:28.90]I was eight when I told them that I'd be a pilot
[00:34.71]But I was too young and too short
[00:37.00]and there were no female captains
[00:38.77]and my dad said, "be patient" he said, "just see what happens"
[00:42.48]But I took my first lesson came down from the sky
[00:45.73]and told my father I'd fly for the rest of my life
[00:49.53]And I got my first job flying for a mortician
[00:52.88]in a tiny bonanza, just a corpse and me
[00:56.33]Five dollars an hour for flying dead bodies
[00:59.94]I had to climb over their faces just to get to my seat
[01:03.62]And suddenly the wheels lift off
[01:07.93]the ground is falling backwards
[01:12.23]I am suddenly alive
[01:17.95]Suddenly I'm in the cockpit
[01:21.21]Suddenly everything's changed
[01:24.73]Suddenly I'm not too young or too short
[01:27.88]and the passengers in the back don't complain
[01:31.93]Suddenly I'm flying company charters
[01:35.47]Suddenly everything's high
[01:38.97]Suddenly there's nothing in between me and the sky
[01:46.77]American Airlines had the prettiest planes
[01:55.23]So I applied as a flight engineer
[01:58.33]But the World War II pilots, they all complained
[02:02.37]They said, "girls shouldn't be in the cockpit"
[02:04.98]"Hey lady, hey baby, hey! Why don't you grab us a drink?"
[02:09.50]And the flight attendants weren't my friends back then
[02:12.69]and they said, "Are you better than us, do you think?"
[02:17.15]But I kept getting hired
[02:21.06]And the World War II crew, they retired
[02:24.27]And the girls all thought much higher of me
[02:28.48]1986 the first female American captain in history
[02:35.04]Suddenly I'm in the cockpit
[02:38.54]Suddenly I've got my wings
[02:42.45]Suddenly all of those pilots protested me
[02:45.95]Well, they can get their own drinks
[02:48.54]Suddenly there's no one saying, "Stay grounded"
[02:52.50]Looking down passing them by
[02:56.21]Suddenly there's nothing in between me and the sky
[03:02.22]Suddenly I've got an all female crew
[03:05.41]The news talked, it made headlines across the world
[03:09.21]Suddenly it stopped
[03:10.66]No one saying, "You can't" or "You won't"
[03:13.25]or "You know you're not anything 'cause you're a girl"
[03:17.23]Suddenly I'm getting married
[03:19.97]and we're putting pins on the map where we've flown
[03:24.17]Suddenly I am a mother
[03:27.14]and suddenly shocked at how much they've grown
[03:30.85]Suddenly I'm wondering how my parents would feel
[03:35.15]seeing me teaching men to be pilots
[03:38.20]'Cause suddenly I am a senior instructor
[03:41.81]and somehow I'm 51
[03:45.11]Suddenly I'm flying Paris to Dallas
[03:48.68]Across The Atlantic and feeling calm
[03:52.27]When suddenly someone on air to air traffic says
[03:55.88]"At 8:46 there's been a terrorist action"
[03:58.99]And the one thing I loved more than anything
[04:02.09]was used as the bomb
[04:04.05]Suddenly I'm in a hotel
[04:12.52]Suddenly something has died
[04:21.03]Suddenly there's something in between me and the sky