A Day of Traveling…
Usually a day of traveling is coupled with intermittent sleep, junk food, and ignoring everything around me by listening non-stop to my ipod. Well New Years Eve was different. I was flying back to Chicago from Jacksonville via a short stop in Charlotte. The day started with the realization that my plane actually took off an hour and 15 minutes before I had originally thought it did. Once arriving in Charlotte I had approximately an hour before my next flight to Chicago left. An inconsequential chat with another woman inline at the ticket desk led later to an interesting conversation. Well into her 80’s if not beyond she was in need of someone to place a call for her and unable to use a public phone due to a degenerate eye condition. I offered her my cell to use for a quick phone call to her daughter to update her on the delayed plane. We quickly fell into a conversation about old films, the classics such as Casa Blanca, Yours Mine and Ours and White Christmas (all my favorites). Then we talked of her living in D.C., being widowed three times and living and traveling overseas. She had spunk, gumption and experience and it was a treat for me to be able to talk with her for 40 minutes. She told me to not to marry too soon, to travel to my hearts desire and to pursue my dreams.
Once on the plane to next plane to Chicago, it was not long before I was deep in conversation with the woman sitting next to me. We were uncomfortable sitting in the last row of the plane but hardly noticed as we talked of faith and justice. For reasons she mentioned the Congo (DRC) saying how she felt impassioned to bring awareness to the war that has been going on for the past three decades there and the plight of women throughout it. I immediately told her that I had just completed my Master’s of Law and had studied that very situation in one of my grad school classes. She then simple stated that she was Christian and really felt led to host dinners to bring awareness and raise money for organizations working on the ground there. I wrote down half a dozen organization I could think of off the top of my head for her to use as a resource. We then spent the remainder of the flight talking of faith, family, Christian’s responsibility and obligation to act and movies.
Occasionally when we stop to talk to a stranger, we gain insight, experience a small joy, help others, get companionship for a short time and its just a good way to pass the time.
Usually a day of traveling is coupled with intermittent sleep, junk food, and ignoring everything around me by listening non-stop to my ipod. Well New Years Eve was different. I was flying back to Chicago from Jacksonville via a short stop in Charlotte. The day started with the realization that my plane actually took off an hour and 15 minutes before I had originally thought it did. Once arriving in Charlotte I had approximately an hour before my next flight to Chicago left. An inconsequential chat with another woman inline at the ticket desk led later to an interesting conversation. Well into her 80’s if not beyond she was in need of someone to place a call for her and unable to use a public phone due to a degenerate eye condition. I offered her my cell to use for a quick phone call to her daughter to update her on the delayed plane. We quickly fell into a conversation about old films, the classics such as Casa Blanca, Yours Mine and Ours and White Christmas (all my favorites). Then we talked of her living in D.C., being widowed three times and living and traveling overseas. She had spunk, gumption and experience and it was a treat for me to be able to talk with her for 40 minutes. She told me to not to marry too soon, to travel to my hearts desire and to pursue my dreams.
Once on the plane to next plane to Chicago, it was not long before I was deep in conversation with the woman sitting next to me. We were uncomfortable sitting in the last row of the plane but hardly noticed as we talked of faith and justice. For reasons she mentioned the Congo (DRC) saying how she felt impassioned to bring awareness to the war that has been going on for the past three decades there and the plight of women throughout it. I immediately told her that I had just completed my Master’s of Law and had studied that very situation in one of my grad school classes. She then simple stated that she was Christian and really felt led to host dinners to bring awareness and raise money for organizations working on the ground there. I wrote down half a dozen organization I could think of off the top of my head for her to use as a resource. We then spent the remainder of the flight talking of faith, family, Christian’s responsibility and obligation to act and movies.
Occasionally when we stop to talk to a stranger, we gain insight, experience a small joy, help others, get companionship for a short time and its just a good way to pass the time.
posted by Starrchild at 4:47 PM
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