Exhausted over this 7 a.m. flight, I couldn't wait to sleep on this plane. There was nothing more exciting to me than four hours of Spotify playlists. I'd always liked sitting by the window, but the aisle was a whole new world. The freedom of going to the restroom and being the first to be offered a complimentary drink. (Is there anything better than that?)
The atmosphere of the flight was peaceful until this energetic woman came to take her seat right next to me. I was exhausted and not really in the mood to speak to anyone. Here's the thing though, I couldn't have been more grateful to have her sit next to me and here's why.
The first hour of the flight was a very weird hour. I had my earphones in, but I wasn't able to fall asleep. In fact, even with the music on full volume, I could hear the energetic woman's conversation with the man by the window.
He had a magazine out, his eyes focused on the article regarding modern love, however, his ears were devoted to this woman's conversation. Not even The New York Times could prevent him from hearing her stories, so I was curious as to what she was talking about.
Soon enough, I took out my earphones to hear what she had to say.
"I'm sorry if my voice woke you, I'm just so excited to be visiting the city again," she said.
"It's OK, I'm not tired anymore. No worries."
"Oh well, that's great then! Did you know New York is the only place where silence isn't golden? In fact, if you don't hear New York speaking to you, that's when you know something is wrong."
"Oh I —"
"Something to drink?"
We were interrupted by the flight attendant offering us drinks. He came at the perfect time because I had no idea how to respond to her. Only one second into this conversation and she already had me thinking.
I still didn't know what to say, so I just turned to her and simply nodded. She smiled as if she knew I didn't have an answer.
She had traveled all around the world, made the best of friends, let go of others who held her back, sacrificed everything for her family, and was here to tell me the most important things she wished she had known in her 20s.
She sipped her wine and stared at the tray table open about in front of her. Her tray table had a picture of London on it and she smiled, sighing. She explained how she had found her love in London. She told me to travel in my 20s because there was so much more to the world than I could ever imagine. When she found out that I was an undergraduate student, she smiled.
She asked me to describe my undergraduate experience so far in one word.
I wasn't able to because there were so many. So, she gave me a word to use instead.
"Empowering."
She looked at me and explained her reasoning.
To most, one's undergraduate years are hard to put into words. There are days that are better than some and circumstances that will hold you back. People go to college with this perception that you have to "change" — to start over. However, as you grow, you begin to learn that time isn't slow and change isn't always necessary.
She politely asked the man by the window to slightly open the blind. She wanted to take the perfect picture of her tray table and send it to her daughter. She needed the light to shine on it because she knew London shouldn't be seen any other way. Suddenly, the seatbelt sign lit up and the pilot told everyone to sit still due to turbulence. The tray table began to slightly rattle and her hand began to shake. She was in the midst of taking the photo of her tray table to send to her daughter and laughed at how difficult it was to capture it.
The pictures came out blurry and to her, that fit her definition of perfect. She explained how her children gave her life meaning and that no matter how blurry a picture was, it meant the world. She explained how she had sacrificed everything for her children. Her achievements were her children and she reminded me that family goes above and beyond for you. That's the love she told me to hold onto; the kind of love that people should never take for granted.
30 minutes left on this plane ride and everyone in our row had slowly dozed off.
The pilot was preparing for landing. Surprisingly, the actual flight was the best part. To the left, there was Ms. Liberty and to the right was the river; the passengers near us began to smile as well. I made myself believe that they were happy to arrive in the concrete jungle, but by all means, they were probably excited to have some peace and quiet.
I might not have gotten my desired nap, but I learned so much in those four hours.
I learned to look for humor, knowledge, and passion. I learned that people come and go and that's completely okay. Family is the most important thing. Travel is good for the soul. To trust your gut. Give it your best and nothing less. Forget what people think of you. Go the extra mile, because it's never crowded. Do something for you, rather than for the purpose of just showing others what you're doing.
The pilot thanked us as we got off the plane and the woman who had the power to keep sleep-deprived me awake, waved and smile. Instead of saying a simple goodbye, she told me to continue designing a life I love and went off to catch the metro.
She unknowingly had taught me so much and had given me the advice I didn't even know I needed at that point.
I guess the saying is true, not all who wander are lost.
