Thursday, January 6, 2011

LIKE INSTANT OLD FRIENDS

Meet Geraldine, last name unknown. She has a twinkle in her eye that shows the devilment she caused her family as a fiery readheaded kid with freckles.
And Jetta. Last name unknown. Named Jetta before the Volkswagon. Beautiful woman with the sweetness imprinted on her face.
I flew out of Sacramento Airport yesterday to meet my partner, Jim,  in Apache Junction, Arizona. My back pack was heavy and packed tightly. When I reached for my book, a book I knew I had put into the backpack, I couldn't find it. I sighed and commented that I never get on a plane without a book. Geraldine suggested I read the inflight magazine as she opened her own book. I asked her what she was reading and the next thing you know, the three of were discussing books, flights, places, families, religion, the world...
The stewardess came by and asked us if we were sisters? At that point we hadn't even traded names. So, we did while she stood there.
A woman across the aisle, Mary Elizabeth, thought we were having so much fun, she wanted to converse  with us, too. It's as though we were instant friends. I handed Geraldine my card and still without trading last names, she decided to check me out on-line. Instant friends because I'd forgotten my book.
The funny thing is, when I got to the motor home and unpacked my things, my book was in my pack after all. I love serendipity. What a fun flight getting to know these two lovely women for a couple of hours.
 The Phoenix airport still has an old fashioned shoe shine stand. And the shoe shiner is a woman. It reminded me much of a children's book my youngest daughter loved about a little girl wanting to run a shoe shine stand at a time when women and girls were locked into positions that gave them few choices in life. If memory serves me, the author was Clyde Robert Bulla. Doncha know, everything is related?

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