When I left my little home town of Eldorado, Wisconsin, almost 14 years ago and came to work for Southwest Airlines in the big city of Dallas, I was taken in by the Southwest family and hoped to one day see us serve Milwaukee.  Even in these trying economic times, dreams really do come true! 

Over the years I have met so many of our 35,000+ Employees and to my surprise a lot of them hail from Wisconsin.  There is Kay Weatherford in Revenue Management, who hails from Mishicot; Rich Klosowski in HDQ Distribution Services, who is from Milwaukee; Marc Stank at our Tulsa airport operation, who is from Kenosha; Eric Simonis in Purchasing, who is from Stevens Points; Mary Schmittner-Wollf in Properties, who is from Milwaukee; Chris Czarnecki in Properties, who is from West Allis; Stacy Baker in Dispatch, who is from Milwaukee, Sam Rogers in Dispatch, who is from Racine; Alan Stehsel in Maintenance who is from Green Bay; and one of my closest friends, Suki Ziegenhagen in Schedule Production of Pewaukee,  just to name a few.

We may have moved away but are proud of our State and super excited to have everyone discover our traditions and to see what makes Wisconsin unique. 

• We have some of the best EATS.  Aside from the stands selling beer-soaked bratwurst with sauerkraut, there is the Friday Night tradition of fish fry dinners with Walleye and Perch being the most popular.  You will never go hungry with a bar, restaurant or supper club on every corner serving up everything from reubens to fried cheese curds.
• There are four VERY distinct seasons in Wisconsin, contrary to the belief that there are only two: “construction” and “winter.”  These are marked by the fresh spring colors, wonderful lakes and scenery of summer, vibrant fall colors and the blanket of white in winter.  Our weather seasons are not to be confused with the “Fest” seasons such as Summer Fest, German Fest, Polish Fest, and Italian Fest.
• The Packers are iconic and Lambeau defines tailgating.  Where else do you drive to the frozen tundra where your team is playing without having tickets just so you can tailgate in the parking lot or watch the game in a pub down the street?  There are a lot of other great sports, too, such as hockey, ice boat racing, fishing, hunting and bowling.
• Call us Cheeseheads all you want, but seriously, I think we have it figured out.  There are 452 different varieties produced in America’s Dairy Land.
• Families are generally huge in Wisconsin and it isn’t unusual to find families with ten or more siblings.  If you are ever invited to a family gathering count on a multitude.  Wisconsinites love our families and our traditions run deep.

We hope Wisconsin will appreciate that our Southwest traditions also run deep.  We believe in taking care of each other, being solid members of our communities, providing outstanding Customer Service and of course having FUN!

To read the thoughts of another "Cheesehead," click here.