I just got home from an absolutely wonderful trip to Florida to visit Brooklynn, Tim and Mandy....well, mostly Brooklynn. I sat in the airport with wonderful memories of four great days loving on my grandaughter and feeling a little bit sorry for myself because I was leaving and they were 1300 miles away. After all that means I cannot just jump in the car and visit on a whim. Poor me!!!I got on the plane and sat down next to a very elderly woman...to learn later she was 86. I avoided conversation because I wanted to finish reading "The Energy Bus"...a book on getting rid of negative and putting positive in your life. We all need motivation, right? So for an hour and a half I read and avoided eye contact. Until, the elderly woman asked me nicely if I would reset her watch to Colorado time for her. Well of course..I can do that. That is it, we are now talking. This nice woman had flown from Colorado to Tampa for a Jazz Festival. It was her passion. Further conversation revealed she had run the gift shop at the Air Force Academy for 30 years...we have something in common. I told her about my boys and the Naval Academy. Her favorite place to go was to San Diego..we have something else in common...that is my favorite place. She talked for 45 minutes about all the things she loved with tears running down her eyes. "Oh honey, I am not crying, I can feel the sun coming through the windows on my face and it feels so good that it brings tears to my eyes." This lady was blind. I did not know it. She had macular degeneration and lost most of her sight in 2003. Her cane was a cane so she could feel her way around. She was incredible. She traveled alone. "Oh honey, someone is always there to help me. I have learned how to live with very limited sight. I will live with very limited sight until I die with very limited sight, but I WILL live." She is a lesson much better than any book I could have been reading. That was a lesson in positive that no literature could teach. What an incredible lady and I do believe that I was in that seat for a reason today.
I got off the plane with tears running down my face. Yes, I miss my family but I got to go see my family. The time I spent with them is a gift. They will be back home and we will have plenty of time to visit. Until then we will SKYPE, and call, and make trips back and forth and I am blessed. And I realize that even more today after sharing 45 minutes with a really inspiring lady.
Coming soon...posts about my beautiful grandchild!!!!
No comments:
Post a Comment