With a burning need to see the world but no way to pay for it, I became a flight attendant for United Airlines. The moment I walked through the doors of the training center, a shy but eager new recruit, not entirely unlike the Emily I write about in Love Me Anyway, my life changed forever. I was suddenly part of this unique and fascinating new world. It was intoxicating and lonely, exhilarating and exhausting, and it was filled with some of the most amazing people I would ever come across.

As a voracious reader and an aspiring writer, I was driven very early on to write about that world. I’m not sure I had the chutzpah back then to think I would ever end up with a published novel, but year after year I dedicated myself to telling our story. I didn’t want to write another compilation of funny anecdotes from the plane (that’s been done before, and well), but I wanted to reveal the depth you don’t often think about when asking a flight attendant for your beverage of choice – the high of jetting off to Paris for a bottle of perfume, the struggle of coping with all of life’s turmoil while literally up in the air.

I feel tremendously lucky to have spent so many years as part of the flight attendant family, working alongside the warmest and most generous colleagues I could have hoped for. They became my family away from home, and now I’m honored to share our story with you.