Once Upon a Plane Ride..

There are so many ideas swirling through my head that I could write about-being at home, the differences in the family/house, my flights yesterday, what God is teaching me....the list goes on. The one I am choosing to write about today, or right now, because who knows...I could blog again today. But, the one I choose, is Harold. Who's Harold you may ask? Well after a few lines of reading the rest of this blog you will no longer be wondering.

I was the 55th person to board the plane from Phoenix to Little Rock. I barely even made the flight, or at least that is what I thought was going to occur! My flight from Orange County to Phoenix was about 30ish or so minutes behind schedule due to a late departure because of weather. I landed at approximately 11:15am (Arizona time). Next flight scheduled to take off at 11:20am. I became slightly panic stricken, I wanted to go home!! I started praying. After some brisk walking and mild running, I made it over to my other gate. I was pleasantly reassured by the line of people still standing there waiting to board. First thought, pee. Goodness knows those plane bathrooms just don't suffice. On to Harold...

So back to being the 55th person to board the plane. To my extremelyyyy pleasant surprise and bewilderment...the front row on the left side still had 2 seats remaining, 1 of which was the window seat. I was seriously shocked that no one jumped on the opportunity for a window seat in the front row, which means you have at least an extra 12 inches of leg room, and you get to be one of the first to get off the plane. God knows that I get extremely restless and antsy on planes, I think he saved it for Harold and me. After boarding, it took nearly an hour to take off...we were in line behind 12-13 planes.

In the mean time, this little old man was the last to board. He was well dressed, looked like a golfer. He also appeared quite friendly. The lady came over the intercom and said it was going to be a completely full flight. The seat to my left was still open. The old man made his way to the front and took the seat next to me. We started talking, we never stopped talking. The longest pause in conversation was 3 minutes, if even.

Harold was quite the business man. He grew up in Alabama, southern baptist, one of the 3 kids-he was the middle. He is the owner or partial owner of 3 companies. He told me all about them. I learned SO much about him and from him in that 3 1/2 hours. He has been happily married for 52 years...he says Californians look at him like he's crazy for being married that long. He told me about the up and coming inventions and products that are about to be huge. We talked about real estate (he is a real estate agent as well). He told me about the crop circles outside the window (he was an agricultural major in college). He told me about his favorite states, cities, and countries (he has been to every state multiple times, except Alaska). By the way, I was asking questions...he didn't just offer all of this. He asked me about myself a lot as well. I told him about how I ended up in California, my major, my dad's job, I taught him how to play Sudoku, I told him about crocheting, about how I love photography, about Arkansas...but mostly I enjoyed just listening to him.

He is 74...I asked him if he planned on retiring, he said only when his health fails him and smiled. He told me how is wife thinks he's crazy for taking on new projects. He told me about not having electricity until he was 8, and a tv until he was 18 and how his grandchildren can't even comprehend what that is like. He told me about being on a company plane when it crashed (while we were on the plane.....not cool Harold). He told me to email him when I graduate and he would give me a job and handed me a business card.

This is long, and this isn't even the half of it. I love meeting people on planes. I love meeting people full of life experience and wisdom, especially if they are willing to share some of it with me.

Another amazing flight full of interesting convos.

-Until next Monday.