i get so good at posting regularly and then life gets in the way. soon i feel all out-of-sorts and realize the reason why i'm feeling so off is because i haven't been writing! vicious cycle. i have about 7 posts floating around in my head and keep saying, "i HAVE to get this up on the blog before i forget!" the problem is that a lot of times, when i'm having these blog-worthy experiences, i always wish i had paper and pen with me to record every detail. although jotting notes isn't the most conducive to a heartfelt conversation, i always wish i'd have written it down in the moment. enough of the diatribe, here is the first in a long line of "catch-up" posts.
memorial day weekend i had a barnes family colorado adventure to celebrate the nuptials of deb durey and colin lockhart. my standard fare for flying is: sit, read, pass out, and read. i hate talking to people next to me and am sure to put off the "don't bother me" vibe every time. seriously, if you start small talk with someone on an airplane, you HAVE to draw it out the full 2.5 hours or else it's. so. awkward. and if you're in the middle seat, you can't even pretend you're a) hunting for the beverage cart (aisle seat) or b) enjoying the scenery (window). but here i was, breaking the trend, and had my first in-flight conversation with two adorable old guys. for some reason, as i was boarding a flight back to PDX, i felt like i just had to sit between these two "boys".
ron sits to my left. his hair is like the whitest cotton candy you've ever seen and it boyishly curls over the edge of his ballcap. he's tan and his eyes are like water - they sparkle, they jump and just draw you in. the guy's got a killer smile too. we get to talking and come to find out he's an ordained minister and travels the world with his wife (who's a midwife) doing missions work and serving others in times of natural disaster. he's been to NOLA to help katrina victims 5 times and was about to make a trek to joplin, missouri with samaritan's purse. they have 5 children and something like 12 grandchildren and even some great-grandbabies in there too. one child is a missionary in brazil and another goes from job to job because a 9-5 just isn't for him. so he is now a tenter for a circus (seriously...he sets up circus tents!) and doesn't go to church, which takes ron's smile down a couple of watts. ron is the all-star pitcher for denver's 70-and-over softball league and is headed to reno with the team manager, bill, for the champsionship games (: love this! my two favorite things about talking with ron are hearing his love story and the way he talks about his kids. he told me more than once that his children are "the loves of my life" and now that he's retired, he spends as much time as he can doting on them and spoiling his grandbabies because, "life really begins when you have grandkids".
ron's family-owned company installs bleachers in highschools and sports field and also dabbles in the scaffolding world. he's been married for 54 years to a drop-dead gorgeous woman. i see a picture of her and exclaim, "ron! she's a BOMBSHELL!". he tells me i have no idea and went right into how they met - 54 years ago ron rolled into denver to install a bleacher set in a high school gymnasium. this beautiful girl was working the concession stand at the time and immediately caught his eye. according to ron, "week one. i asked her out. she said no. week two. i asked her again. she said yes, but only if it was a group date because i could be a creep or something. week three. we get engaged. week four. we got married in vegas. and that was 54 years ago." BALLLLLIN story, right? don't tell the other guy, but ron kind of stole the show for me, total favorite and made my heart feel about ten times too big just talking to him. he even asked me about my acorn and anchor tattoos and took the time to listen and said he loved them (:
bill sits to my right and is a retired lieutenant colonel in the army. he made two tours to vietnam and told me all about it. bill literally said, "i have never even told my kids about my time over there" and launched into the devastation and hurt he'd seen there. with tears in his eyes he tells me about his friends who never came home. about the street that all the soldier's wives lived on and having to see the black car drive up week after week. he breaks my heart. but he also makes me smile when he says he's been proudly married for 51 years to his beautiful "girlfriend" (love it that he still calls his wife his girlfriend). we get into politics and our love of republicanism with all it's good, bad and ugly. he even tells me allllllllll about the old folks' softball leagues and his love for Christ. at the end of our conversation, i ask him what the secret is to being happily married for so long. bill says, "just have a good time. laugh a lot. all the time, be laughing. go on adventures and just live life. live it together." best advice i've heard in a long time.
this fledgling "talking-to-others-on-a-plane" experience set the bar high and, wouldn't you know it, started a new trend of being friendly on flights! i met a gorgeous 32-year old arkansan engineer on a flight from dallas to little rock last week who told me everything i needed to know about going to my first music festival and filled me in on the glories of "america's most under-appreciated state". he seriously was a looker, so much so that i told him he really needed to audition for the bachelor (: AND to make things even better...he does contract work at laughlin air force base in del rio! small world, eh?
on my trek back to the NW, i also talked to an cutie immigration law student on the hour-long flight from little rock to DFW who i noticed had a great manicure and a wakarusa bracelet on. we bonded over the music and our experiences there and i left with a new friend (: though currently based in LA with her doctor boyfriend, she's from gig harbor, washington - just 45 minutes away from seattle! if i have had such awesome experiences talking to people in the past 2 weeks, think about all the opportunities and friendships i've been missing out on the past 24 years! changed my mindset on talking to my airplane neighbor for sure. so now i'm dying to know...do y'all talk to people on planes?
memorial day weekend i had a barnes family colorado adventure to celebrate the nuptials of deb durey and colin lockhart. my standard fare for flying is: sit, read, pass out, and read. i hate talking to people next to me and am sure to put off the "don't bother me" vibe every time. seriously, if you start small talk with someone on an airplane, you HAVE to draw it out the full 2.5 hours or else it's. so. awkward. and if you're in the middle seat, you can't even pretend you're a) hunting for the beverage cart (aisle seat) or b) enjoying the scenery (window). but here i was, breaking the trend, and had my first in-flight conversation with two adorable old guys. for some reason, as i was boarding a flight back to PDX, i felt like i just had to sit between these two "boys".
ron sits to my left. his hair is like the whitest cotton candy you've ever seen and it boyishly curls over the edge of his ballcap. he's tan and his eyes are like water - they sparkle, they jump and just draw you in. the guy's got a killer smile too. we get to talking and come to find out he's an ordained minister and travels the world with his wife (who's a midwife) doing missions work and serving others in times of natural disaster. he's been to NOLA to help katrina victims 5 times and was about to make a trek to joplin, missouri with samaritan's purse. they have 5 children and something like 12 grandchildren and even some great-grandbabies in there too. one child is a missionary in brazil and another goes from job to job because a 9-5 just isn't for him. so he is now a tenter for a circus (seriously...he sets up circus tents!) and doesn't go to church, which takes ron's smile down a couple of watts. ron is the all-star pitcher for denver's 70-and-over softball league and is headed to reno with the team manager, bill, for the champsionship games (: love this! my two favorite things about talking with ron are hearing his love story and the way he talks about his kids. he told me more than once that his children are "the loves of my life" and now that he's retired, he spends as much time as he can doting on them and spoiling his grandbabies because, "life really begins when you have grandkids".
ron's family-owned company installs bleachers in highschools and sports field and also dabbles in the scaffolding world. he's been married for 54 years to a drop-dead gorgeous woman. i see a picture of her and exclaim, "ron! she's a BOMBSHELL!". he tells me i have no idea and went right into how they met - 54 years ago ron rolled into denver to install a bleacher set in a high school gymnasium. this beautiful girl was working the concession stand at the time and immediately caught his eye. according to ron, "week one. i asked her out. she said no. week two. i asked her again. she said yes, but only if it was a group date because i could be a creep or something. week three. we get engaged. week four. we got married in vegas. and that was 54 years ago." BALLLLLIN story, right? don't tell the other guy, but ron kind of stole the show for me, total favorite and made my heart feel about ten times too big just talking to him. he even asked me about my acorn and anchor tattoos and took the time to listen and said he loved them (:
bill sits to my right and is a retired lieutenant colonel in the army. he made two tours to vietnam and told me all about it. bill literally said, "i have never even told my kids about my time over there" and launched into the devastation and hurt he'd seen there. with tears in his eyes he tells me about his friends who never came home. about the street that all the soldier's wives lived on and having to see the black car drive up week after week. he breaks my heart. but he also makes me smile when he says he's been proudly married for 51 years to his beautiful "girlfriend" (love it that he still calls his wife his girlfriend). we get into politics and our love of republicanism with all it's good, bad and ugly. he even tells me allllllllll about the old folks' softball leagues and his love for Christ. at the end of our conversation, i ask him what the secret is to being happily married for so long. bill says, "just have a good time. laugh a lot. all the time, be laughing. go on adventures and just live life. live it together." best advice i've heard in a long time.
this fledgling "talking-to-others-on-a-plane" experience set the bar high and, wouldn't you know it, started a new trend of being friendly on flights! i met a gorgeous 32-year old arkansan engineer on a flight from dallas to little rock last week who told me everything i needed to know about going to my first music festival and filled me in on the glories of "america's most under-appreciated state". he seriously was a looker, so much so that i told him he really needed to audition for the bachelor (: AND to make things even better...he does contract work at laughlin air force base in del rio! small world, eh?
on my trek back to the NW, i also talked to an cutie immigration law student on the hour-long flight from little rock to DFW who i noticed had a great manicure and a wakarusa bracelet on. we bonded over the music and our experiences there and i left with a new friend (: though currently based in LA with her doctor boyfriend, she's from gig harbor, washington - just 45 minutes away from seattle! if i have had such awesome experiences talking to people in the past 2 weeks, think about all the opportunities and friendships i've been missing out on the past 24 years! changed my mindset on talking to my airplane neighbor for sure. so now i'm dying to know...do y'all talk to people on planes?
i would definitely talk to this guy on a plane...
Those two old guys you described sound just fantastic. I'm in love with them too. You have a way with your writing that just sweeps me away.
ReplyDeleteI haven't talked to anyone on a plane in years because I haven't been on a plane without children in years. People don't talk to you when you are wrestling kids. They are either terrified of you (for good reason) or spend the whole time cooing at the cuties in your lap. It's weird.
Once when I was flying with a very restless 8 month-old Mandy, she threw a full container of squash babyfood at a young 20 something (good looking) guy in the seat next to us. He glared at me and wiped goo off of him. Life's an adventure.