An Open Seat to Belize

At first I thought I was going to have an open seat next to me.  People just kept streaming by, some placing bags in the overhead compartment above me, but none claiming the empty space to my left.  Then this older woman stood above me looking back and forth between my row and the one next to me.  It already had three occupants and was filled.  “I guess this’ll be my seat since mine isn’t open,” she said jovially and squeezed passed my knees quickly to plop down.  I looked at the younger man who had obviously taken her aisle seat, forcing her next to me at the window, could sense he knew the shameful thing he had done, admonished him in my head, and went back to reading my book.  “Whatchya reading there?  ‘Poor Economics,’ is that for a class?” she asked.

“No, it’s related to my work.  I’m out of school.”

“Well isn’t that exciting!  So how does it relate to your work?”

“It’s about people in developing communities that live on less than a dollar a day.  I work in the travel industry.  I just find it interesting.” 

“Are you going to Dallas for work, or headed on to somewhere else?”

“I’m going to Belize.  What about you?”

“Costa Rica, though stopping in Dallas first to meet my sister and then we’re going to Costa Rica to visit her daughter.”

“That should be fun.”

“Oh yes, her daughter needs a pick-me-up, a little mind changing, so we’ve got some mischief up our sleeves.”  I chuckled, put my book down for the rest of this conversation.  Despite my first impressions of this woman, I decided I liked her.  On first inspection of her face, she was an old woman, orange makeup covered her marbling skin with one streak on her jaw likely erased by a bead of sweat that had trailed its way down from her brow line.  Her mouth didn’t move much when she spoke, as if everything were said through clenched teeth or tight jaw muscles.  I originally wondered if she had had a stroke.  Then, as we continued to talk, I realized she had an accent.  That must be the root of the problem.

“Where are you from?” 

“I am from the Netherlands, I immigrated here with my family when I was fifteen.” 

Well that explained it.  And from then on out, this woman just became more and more fascinating.  The more I learned of her, the more it became apparent that my life was paralleling hers in many ways, that we were two peas from the same pod, cut from the same cloth, birds of a feather, if you will.  After marrying, she and her husband moved to Evergreen.  Her children went to the same schools I did, they hiked the same trails I hike.  Her son went to his junior prom but forewent his senior one due to his dislike for the falsity of it all.  Both of her children attended DU, she even worked at DU for years in the International Studies department.  Now, in her late eighties, she has climbed 48 of Colorado’s 14’ers, having started when she was 54.  Her son moved to Vail after graduating from DU and has become a world-renowned conqueror of mountains and speaks all over the world.  He led the first blind man up Everest, has done all of the highest peaks excepting the one in Antarctica, and regularly leads disabled children up Machu Picchu, as disabled persons are where his passion lies.  He is the reason for her interest in mountains, not the other way around. 

She shared with me tales of taking her grand daughter back to the Netherlands and opening her up to a whole new world.  She revealed her family hid a Jewish family in their home during WWII, even with German soldiers passing their house and living in the one next to them for years.  We spoke of love and relationships.  She had been married once, to her father’s children, but divorced and never found another man that fit her standards so has chosen to remain alone.  We even agreed that legalizing marijuana in Colorado would only bring unproductivity and devolution to the state, much similar to the Amsterdam that she knows so well. 

I feel blessed to have sat in the company of such a woman and to soak up her wisdom, charisma, and love for life even for a brief amount of time.  You never know who life may bless you with if you are open to having that seat filled next to you.  I have met a young man on a plane who, four years later, is still a dear friend.  I have met the head of the Anthropology department from the University of Flordia, one of the most respected anthro departments in the nation and learned so much.  I have sat next to an elderly woman who has traveled the world times over in search of adventure and lost causes she could right.  And now, I have one more beautiful memory to add to my list.  Always remember that good people attract good people, if you are open to it.