In Transit
There's something about travel, airports, and being forced to sit shoulder-to-shoulder with perfect strangers that leaves us both vulnerable and open. I suppose we all figure we're hurtling through the sky in a heavy-ass aluminum torpedo-shaped tube with windows, so we might as well take a little bit of time to meet our neighbors. Plus, when we have to get up to the bathroom, it's a community event, shuffling trays, holding up plastic cups of Sprite, and bumbling laptops to let someone "go."
Over the years, I've taken countless planes and have met some people whose stories have touched my life -- glimpses of other worlds, other lives, other journeys that crossed with mine; people who have made me reflect on my own life. Many were nervous, generous, kind.
All of us were tired.
So here's a hodge-podge list of people I've met. No names -- that's part of it. Anonymous strangers who share their dreams for a while then move on. It's rare to exchange information, keep in touch. It's like breaking the crystal ball of travel intimacy.
I've met ...
The first Colombian woman who was ever adopted by foreigners (American missionaries) when she was two and her sister was four and taken to live abroad. She was on her second trip to Colombia, after fifty-five years of not returning. She said, when she first landed the first time, it smelled and felt like home.A family of six (parents, three children, and a grandmother) flying to Bogota to adopt four children ages 5, 7, 12, and 14. The children had participated in an exchange program and had spent a month with this family the year before. They fell in love and were ready to invite them into their family and take them back to Texas.A young girl obsessed with chickens who showed me, page-by-page, a chicken book she'd just purchased in the bookstore. You'd be surprised about how many chickens there are. Lots of chickens and chicken talk.A federal agent. It took every smidgen of will power to not start acting out parts of Bridesmaids. (Hey not Air Marshall John, wanna go back in that Restroom and not rest. ... I knew it! I got your back, John!) I know. I know. Air Marshalls aren't FBI, but it wasn't too much of a leap to want to start quoting it and laughing. (Sometimes I laugh alone.)A couple traveling from visiting their son in Honduras, who is on a mission, and heading to Bogota for a wedding. I told them to wear comfortable shoes and get ready to dance.A group of gamers from Brazil going to a gaming convention in Las Vegas. 20ish something guys ready to devour Las Vegas.
These are just the people I've met the past year in transit. I sometimes wonder if I'd met my neighbor on a plane, we'd know one another a little better. I suppose I could invite people in our building to sit in the closet with me, but that would just be too weird.
Fresh from a trip back home after meeting some incredible people, I think I'm going to have to pretend I'm still traveling and open myself up to more people, prepare to meet more wonderful people. There's an element to travel we all have -- time. The minutes drip away ... interminable days. We don't have an excuse to bustle around, walk away. Maybe that's what we need -- not a flying cone but instead an hour or two to just sit. Talk. And share.
Consider me in transit.
Over the years, I've taken countless planes and have met some people whose stories have touched my life -- glimpses of other worlds, other lives, other journeys that crossed with mine; people who have made me reflect on my own life. Many were nervous, generous, kind.
All of us were tired.
So here's a hodge-podge list of people I've met. No names -- that's part of it. Anonymous strangers who share their dreams for a while then move on. It's rare to exchange information, keep in touch. It's like breaking the crystal ball of travel intimacy.
I've met ...
The first Colombian woman who was ever adopted by foreigners (American missionaries) when she was two and her sister was four and taken to live abroad. She was on her second trip to Colombia, after fifty-five years of not returning. She said, when she first landed the first time, it smelled and felt like home.A family of six (parents, three children, and a grandmother) flying to Bogota to adopt four children ages 5, 7, 12, and 14. The children had participated in an exchange program and had spent a month with this family the year before. They fell in love and were ready to invite them into their family and take them back to Texas.A young girl obsessed with chickens who showed me, page-by-page, a chicken book she'd just purchased in the bookstore. You'd be surprised about how many chickens there are. Lots of chickens and chicken talk.A federal agent. It took every smidgen of will power to not start acting out parts of Bridesmaids. (Hey not Air Marshall John, wanna go back in that Restroom and not rest. ... I knew it! I got your back, John!) I know. I know. Air Marshalls aren't FBI, but it wasn't too much of a leap to want to start quoting it and laughing. (Sometimes I laugh alone.)A couple traveling from visiting their son in Honduras, who is on a mission, and heading to Bogota for a wedding. I told them to wear comfortable shoes and get ready to dance.A group of gamers from Brazil going to a gaming convention in Las Vegas. 20ish something guys ready to devour Las Vegas.
These are just the people I've met the past year in transit. I sometimes wonder if I'd met my neighbor on a plane, we'd know one another a little better. I suppose I could invite people in our building to sit in the closet with me, but that would just be too weird.
Fresh from a trip back home after meeting some incredible people, I think I'm going to have to pretend I'm still traveling and open myself up to more people, prepare to meet more wonderful people. There's an element to travel we all have -- time. The minutes drip away ... interminable days. We don't have an excuse to bustle around, walk away. Maybe that's what we need -- not a flying cone but instead an hour or two to just sit. Talk. And share.
Consider me in transit.
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