I mentioned it before but it’s worth mentioning again. When I get on an airplane, if I’m traveling by myself, I put on figurative blinders and give off the “please don’t talk to me” vibes. I especially do that when I have a long flight. God knows I don’t want to get roped into a conversation that has no chance of ending for 5 hours.
The year was 2002 and I was traveling home from a quick work trip to San Diego. I had a long haul flight back to Atlanta and clearly remember sitting on the left side of the plane, last row, on the aisle. There was a woman sitting by the window. I sat down, made myself comfortable, opened a book, and quickly gave off those vibes.
She must have asked me a question and somehow a conversation started. It was innocent enough. She wasn’t a Chatty Cathy looking to pass the time. We just seemed to hit it off. She was old enough to be my mother and yet our chit chat quickly turned to deep conversation.
As the flight ended, she gave me her card. She was an executive with CSX, the transportation company (e.g., trains). It struck me as unusual that this woman would be in such a male-dominated industry and I never forgot her. Her words were kind, wise, powerful, and inspiring. I don’t remember exactly what she said. I just know that her conversation filled me with the light I needed.
I sent an email to her a few weeks later just to let her know how much I enjoyed meeting her and I saved the email exchange after all these years. It still warms my heart.
—–Original Message—–
From: Fadra Nally
Sent: Sunday, December 22, 2002 7:58 PM
To: Sandy H.
Subject: Happy Holidays!Sandy,
We met a few weeks ago on a flight from San Diego to Atlanta. Remember the
chatty one beside you? It was a pleasure to talk to you and you made the
flight go quickly (thank you!)I just wanted to drop you a line to let you know you really made my day. I
want to wish you and your family a wonderful, safe, and happy holiday
season. Hope you get snow in Florida!Fadra Nally
From:Â Â “Sandy H.”
To:Â Â ‘Fadra Nally’
Subject:Â Â RE: Happy Holidays!
Date:Â Â Mon, 23 Dec 2002 09:12:22 -0500Fadra:
How could you think I could forget you.  I enjoyed our conversation so
much!  You are a beautiful, delightful and most interesting young woman whom
I will always remember.  I believe people come into our lives and some stay
a long time and others are with us ever so briefly but they leave footprints
on our souls none the less.  You are such a person in my life.  I often
wonder how God knows to send someone to meet a need that I do not even know
I have….that was you.I wish you and your family a glorious holiday season and a most prosperous
New Year!  Unlike you…I hope we don’t see snow for Christmas…however,
they are calling for rain…and that could be worse for driving.Sandy
Small actions sometimes impact others in a most unusual way. If you have a woman that has helped you in life, whether a mother, a sister, a grandmother, or stranger you met on an airplane, remember them on Mother’s Day.
15 comments
Love this, Fadra. Reinforces my belief that more often than not, happenstance = happy chance. By just being open to life, people, and the experiences all around, you’ll often find those precious moments of connection. Even if you’re giving off those ‘don’t bug me’ vibes! LOL
I have a million stories like this. And I bet most people do too. I just think they don’t pay attention to them. I definitely think God (or the universe or whatever) knows when we *need* to be bugged 🙂
Wow Fadra, that’s amazing. Truly.
I had even forgotten about it until I was asked to write this post and the story just popped back into my mind.
One of the most inspirational and wise conversation was with an old Israeli Man when I was on a layover, he told me:
Nothing drives you to be creative like hunger does. You should be hungry to tell stories (i told him i just graduated from film school), hungry to live life to the fullest – and you will never run out of stories to tell.
Ah, i wish i knew what that man’s name was.
I should save this for another post but one of my most powerful encounters was in an airport. I was watching an old man in a wheelchair very intently. He was so old and frail and fragile and I was thinking about what it must be like.
He couldn’t have seen me looking at him yet he suddenly looked at me and said “Someday you’ll be old too.”
It took my breath away. It was so powerful.
This is a great post, Fadra. I too have had some random encounters that have left their mark on me. After reading this, I like to think that I am remembered by them as fondly as they are remembered by me.
I’m glad you liked it. It was one of those moments where I knew I was exactly where I was supposed to be.
I love how a “little” meeting like that can stay with you for all these years. That is special.
Wow! That is awesome. I give those same vibes on planes, perhaps I’ll be open to conversation the next go ’round.
I believe that, too. 🙂 What a great story; I love that you emailed her and you both had a chance to acknowledge what a beautiful connection you both shared that day.
I had a wonderful chat once with an older woman on a plane, flying from Chicago to Austin. During our conversation, we realized that she was coming to visit, and stay with, my sister’s mother-in-law! My sister was picking me up, so we gave her a ride to her friend’s/my sister’s MIL’s house. 🙂
Fadra, thank you for this great story of how we can touch and inspire each other … and thanks for passing it on, by touching the lives of the women and girls of Haiti!
~ Willa (co-founder, Heart of Haiti)
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