The Kindness of Strangers

I love flying (for the most part). It's always so fascinating to walk through an airport and people-watch- to wonder where people are from, where they're going, and why. It actually makes my head hurt thinking about how just how many stories are out there.

I went to Little Rock, Arkansas last week to serve on a grant review panel for the Arkansas Arts Council. It was a super-quick trip- I traveled most of Wednesday, had the panel on Thursday, and was back in Omaha by 8:30 that night. It was a whirlwind of week, because the weekend prior Matt and I were in Pella and Amana for a long weekend. Back on Monday, and then off again Wednesday morning. By the time I got back last weekend, I had TWO unpacked suitcases in my room and laundry spewing everywhere.

It's always interesting to meet new people when traveling. On my flight from Detroit to Little Rock I was sitting next to a middle aged woman. She was reading the whole time, so I kind of got the sense that she wasn't one for chit chat. But at the end of the flight, after we had both stowed away our reading material, she commented that she liked my ring and asked if I was engaged. I told her I was, and then she told me how her daughter had just gotten married two weeks before- in their home- and we talked wedding stuff for the rest of the flight. When we landed in Little Rock, she asked me how I was getting to my hotel. I told her that I actually hadn't thought that far ahead. Since the days before my trip were so chaotic, I hadn't even thought about it. She pointed out her husband near the baggage claim and told me they'd be happy to drive me to the Double Tree- that downtown was on their way home. After the usual runaround of "are you sure you don't mind?" and "it'd be our pleasure", I was squeezed in the backseat of their Audi, driving towards downtown Little Rock. They pointed out significant sites on the way and it was fun to get a snapshot of another's life. They were very sweet, and I appreciated the ride.

I served on the panel with two women- Kay from Tulsa, Oklahoma and Kelly from Baton Rouge, Louisiana. I enjoyed getting glimpses of their stories as well. We all had flights out of the same concourse, and got some drinks at the airport bar before parting company, each to much different lives in different towns, not one more real than the other.

And on the flight back there was the middle-aged man from Pennsylvania who had been to Little Rock for an ag expo, and who pointed out the rivers and the land patterns on the ground below us as we departed. And in Memphis, waiting for my flight, I was sitting next to a nice man who was wearing a shirt that Matthew owns. He was very friendly, and started talking to me about the reason he's so slow-moving- he's recovering from a cancer-treating surgery in January. He was so gentle-hearted, it broke my heart. And then on my last flight I sat by a pastor's wife from Lincoln, and we talked a bit about our churches and our travels.

It just fascinates me to get these snapshots of others' lives, especially knowing I'll never see them again. I'll never know how the cancer patient recovers, or how the couple in Arkansas' daughter's wedding pictures turned out. Our world is both a big and intricate place all at the same time. I can feel so insignificant in light of that, yet I know that God has me in this little corner of the world for a reason, and I'm so blessed by all of the people around me in my world, as well as the nice strangers I meet along the way.