Me and the Sky

My parents must have thought they had a crazy kid

'Cause I was one of those kids who always knew what I wanted

They took me down to the airport to see all the planes departing

Watching them fly, something inside of me was starting

I was eight when I told them that I'd be a pilot

But I was too young and too short and there were no female captains

And my dad said, "Be patient", he said, "Just see what happens"

But I took my first lesson

Came down from the sky and told my father I'd fly for the rest of my life

And I got my first job flying for a mortician

In a tiny bonanza, just a corpse and me

Five dollars an hour for flying dead bodies

I had to climb over their faces just to get to my seat

Then suddenly, the wheels lift off

The ground is falling backwards

I am suddenly alive

Suddenly, I'm in the cockpit

Suddenly, everything's changed

Suddenly, I'm not too young or too short

And the passengers in the back don't complain

Suddenly, I'm flying company charters

Suddenly, everything's high

Suddenly, there's nothing in between me and the sky

American Airlines had the prettiest planes

So I applied as a flight engineer

But the World War II pilots, they all complained

They said, "Girls shouldn't be in the cockpit

Hey lady, hey baby, hey, why don't you grab us a drink?"

And the flight attendants weren't my friends back then

And they said, "Are you better than us, do you think?"

But I kept getting hired

And the World War II crew, they retired

And the girls all thought much higher of me

1986, the first female American captain in history

Suddenly, I'm in the cockpit

Suddenly, I've got my wings

Suddenly, all of those pilots protested me

Well, they can get their own drinks

Suddenly, there's no one saying, stay grounded

Looking down, passing them by

Suddenly, there's nothing in between me and the sky

Suddenly, I've got an all-female crew

The news talked, it made headlines across the world

Suddenly, it stopped

No one's saying you can't or you won't

Or you know you're not anything 'cause you're a girl

Suddenly, I'm getting married

And we're putting pins on the map where we've flown

Suddenly, I am a mother

And suddenly shocked at how much they've grown

Suddenly, I'm wondering how my parents would feel

Seeing me teaching men to be pilots

'Cause suddenly, I am a senior instructor and somehow, I'm 51

Suddenly, I'm flying Paris to Dallas

Across the Atlantic and feeling calm

When suddenly, someone on air to air traffic says

"At 8:46, there's been a terrorist action"

And the one thing I loved more than anything was used as the bomb

Suddenly, I'm in a hotel

Suddenly, something has died

Suddenly, there's something in between me and the sky