My best seatmate ever.
A couple of years ago, I wrote a post about my worst seatmate ever.
After the terrible and wild day I’ve had today, I decided to spend a few minutes to be grateful for the things that were good in my life. Somehow, my mind wandered to a Southwest flight that I took years ago, before I was into The Hobby. I was flying from Los Angeles to Atlanta, and I was seated next to a fabulously chatty man.
Normally, I don’t like to talk to my seatmates. I’m actually kind of shy in public. But this guy was so inclusive and interesting that I couldn’t help but get swept away into a conversation that lasted for the entire flight.
I don’t remember most of our talk, but one thing that stood out was the way he described take-off. “I just can’t help imagining the plane sliding backwards,'” he told me. “It’s at such a steep angle…what’s to stop it from just sliding back down?” He accompanied this thought with a hand and arm movement, a physical slide down, and highly raised eyebrows, driving the point home.
At this exact moment, we were, in fact, on the ascent – the plane was angled up, and we were at the aforementioned improbable angle. I remember having a total moment. I just looked out the window and thought…wow.
And since then, I’ve thought about this guy every time I fly. Every single time. When the plane takes off and we’re at the moment between the ground and the sky, I look out at the clouds and wonder how this is all possible. Not only the flight itself, but all of this.
So I’m grateful, and it’s all good.
How did your day turn out?
🙂
Meh. Sounds like someone that has no idea in physics or how anything in the world works (let me guess, he also believes in some divine authority that created and manages the world). This reminds me a friend that I had who couldn’t understand why can’t a cellphone screen act like a laser pointer. “It already makes red and even green light, why can’t I point it at things in ghe distance like laser?”.
My favorite seatmate was actually a kick-ass Catholic priest. A super-entitled-rich-lady sitting on the other side of me talked for hours about decorating her kid’s bedrooms, and then trying to impress the priest, switched topics to right-to-life/anti-abortion rhetoric. He calming turned to her and said, “Are both your of your children adopted?” She looked confused and told us neither were. He replied, “Oh, I assumed that since you are such an advocate for the lives of unfortunate children born to ill-prepared parents that you would have opened your home to at least one of them.” She didn’t say another word the entire flight. Bless him.
Hottie – 🙂
Normally I agree with you and like your posts but this one not so much. lol. If you guys chatted that whole flight you would quickly be my worst nightmare. Nothing worse than having someone talk the whole flight especially when they are behind you. I’m surprised that you would do that. I’m saying all this in a super nice way but really it would kill me
Kristi – Ha ha, I know!! I was young and kind of wide-eyed at the time. Nowadays this would be awful for me, as well!! Funny how things change.