I'd never flown by myself before. I suppose that, given I am an adult now, I shouldn't have been as nervous for the experience as I was. However, as the day grew nearer, I continued to worry: what if accidentally pack something I wasn't supposed to? What if I can't find my gate? And most importantly, who’s the stranger that I'm going to sit next to the whole time?
I must admit, part of (a lot of) me hoped that it would be some cute college-aged guy, but as I scanned the crowd that occupied my gate, my fantasy seemed less and less promising. I should have figured that, considering the flight was headed to Orlando, Florida, it would be made up of many families vacationing to Disney.
Sure enough, as I settled into seat 10F, a chatty woman and her granddaughter began to acquaint themselves with me.
"So what do you do?" the woman asked.
"I'm sorry?" I responded, confused, and partly caught off guard. I had pulled out a textbook in the meantime and barely paid attention to their introductions.
"Do you work?" she restated.
"Oh, yeah, I'm a student, but I do work part-time."
She proceeded through the typical getting-to-know-you questions; where I go to school, what I'm studying, where I'm from and where I was headed. After gathering that information, the woman began to give me the rundown on herself and her granddaughter as the young girl shyly nodded as she went on.
At that point, I found myself rather irritated. My plan was to study during the ride, not to befriend my neighbors. Regardless, I put on the most polite front I could and endured the rambling.
Almost halfway through the flight, the old woman declared that she needed to use the bathroom, assuring me she'd be right back. Perfect, I thought to myself. I can pull out my textbook and seem so indulged in it by the time she comes back that she'll leave me alone! I reached into my purse, pulled out my brick of a book, and opened to the page I had marked.
"What's that for?" the granddaughter asked.
"Studying," I replied halfheartedly.
"Oh." She nodded and peeked over my arm. "Looks harder than my homework."
I glanced her way. "How old are you?"
"Ten," she said. "My best friend Hannah just turned 10, too. I got to spend two nights with her." She enthusiastically held two fingers up. I relaxed, placing my highlighter in the crease of the binding.
"You miss her, huh?" I asked.
"Yeah," she sighed. "I don't get to see her a lot anymore. But I have my dogs!" She went on to tell me about the four of them. It was the happiest and most comfortable I had seen her since they sat down.
As it turns out, her family had just moved to Melbourne, and the young girl wasn't adjusting well. She spent most of her time at home, playing with her dogs, and designing dresses in a sketchbook. She wants to be a fashion designer, and she definitely has the talent to be (she showed me a bit of what she's done, and it's very impressive for a fourth grader). Her grandmother came back, and I quickly found myself engaged in stories about her first marriage, her two-year all-women's college, and her travels after getting divorced. As the pilot announced that we were preparing to land, I looked to my lap to realize that I hadn't made a dent in my studies. And you know what? I didn't really mind.
"Enjoy your trip, honey. It was nice talking to you," the older woman said as I lowered my carry-on into the aisle.
"Thank you for the conversation!" I responded, giving them a final smile and wave. The granddaughter waved back vigorously, a grin stretching across her face.
I made my way through baggage claim, reflecting on the past two and a half hours. Somehow I had managed to learn the stories of two individuals whose existence I had been unaware of for the past 20 years, and all it took was a glance up.
If only I had gotten their names.
