(Note: The experience shared in this post was from August 8, 2010.)
Chance meetings with fellow humans can be truly beautiful experiences. When mutually engaged with another person, regardless of his or her background, race, nationality, or religion, our basic social nature can be fully realized. Most often these experiences are shared with a select handful of people we choose to keep in our lives, but they can also be had with complete strangers whom one has had no prior contact with. During a nine hour layover at Chicago O’Hare Int’l Airport on my way to Sana’a, Yemen I had such an encounter that I feel I should share with others.
Before retelling this experience, however, I feel it is necessary to give a bit of background to help contextualize my position in life at this point. I had just arrived in Chicago after an hour and a half flight from Sioux Falls, SD, where I had enjoyed a wonderful sendoff that included every member of my immediate family. It was just after noon when I touched down in Chicago and as a result the first thing on my mind was food. While walking through Terminal 2 on my way to Terminal 5, I passed a Chinese food restaurant that had some great looking mixed vegetables, spicy tofu, and lo mein. Thinking I would probably not find much better or healthier or, for that matter, Vegan food, I decided to get my lunch here and take it with me. After ordering my food I made my way to Terminal 5, which happens to be the International Terminal, and next scouted out a place to enjoy my lunch.
While walking through the International Terminal I was fascinated with seeing all the different signs representing the various airline ticket counters. This was not my first time in an airport of O’Hare’s size, but the first time I recall seeing so many different airlines. Some of the airlines I saw included: British Airways, Air Lingus (Irish), Etihad (a Middle Eastern airline), Taca (Central American), Jamaican Airways, Polish Air, Virgin Atlantic, Air France, China East, Air Japan, Korean Air, and most importantly, for me at least, Royal Jordanian, the airline that would be getting me to first Amman, Jordan and finally my new home in Sana’a, Yemen.
Back to my story, though. After walking past the ticket counters a couple times without seeing any tables, I asked a Chicago policewoman where I could find a place to eat and was then instructed to walk ahead a couple hundred feet or so to where the Food Court was located. I then easily located the Food Court and found an open table where I chose to eat my lunch. I had not been sitting and eating for even five minutes when a middle aged man approached my table and asked if he could sit with me. I told him to make himself comfortable and he then began to sit down with his food. When he saw my Chinese food he said “Where did you find that? It looks better than what I have?” He had a small pizza and explained that he had already checked into the Airline Lounge area, but that there was nothing worth eating there. I explained to him that I had gotten my food back in Terminal 2 and then asked him where he was headed. “Stockholm,” he replied and then asked “How about you?” I then explained that I was heading first to Jordan, but eventually to Yemen, where I would be teaching and living. He had the usual response I get, which is a fairly equal mixture of surprise, curiosity, and perhaps a dash of bewilderment too. As we continued to eat, we both began to take a liking to one another and gradually let down what little guards we each had left as the conversation continued to flow.
At this point I would like to digress for a minute and offer my perspective on these kinds of meetings. In my experience with these kinds of encounters, there is a great difference between talking to someone in passing and really talking to someone. This experience was of the latter type, which I believe happens much less frequently than the former. In order to get to the point where one is really talking to someone and not just exchanging niceties, it takes longer and requires both parties to give full focus and attention to the conversation at hand. This is why I believe it happens so much more infrequently. Too often, even with those we love and care for deeply, it seems that people engage in conversation half-heartedly and without fully investing in the exchange (at least this is often the case for me). In these instances, the conversation does not develop as fully and the two parties do not learn as much from one another than when there is total immersion. I realize that life circumstances do not always allow one to dive into each opportunity to meet and discover fellow humans, but I believe that these opportunities are much more prevalent than we might think and we miss out on them because of walls we have built up, our guard, and our often times selfish nature of being stuck or lost in our own world. Regardless, I find that when I do jump into these chances and discover what others’ life stories are about that they are very enjoyable experiences.
Okay, so back to my story. As I mentioned previously at this point both myself and my new friend began to talk freely, taking a mutual interest in what each other had to offer. I soon learned his name was Andy and his reason for flying to Stockholm. When I asked him if he was originally from Sweden, he said “No, I am originally from Pennsylvania, but I have been living in Sweden the past 34 years.” He later went on to explain that his wife was Swedish and the he had met her 37 years ago while traveling there and described their meeting as “love at first sight.” They have since raised two sons, both who continue to live in Sweden but have traveled to the US several times including this most recent trip he was on. His wife and sons had left a week prior, however, while Andy stayed to attend a singing conference in Missouri. Always curious to find out if others are the only world travelers in their family, I asked him if any of his other siblings had lived overseas. He then told me that at one point two of his sisters were living in Africa (I believe Kenya and maybe Ethiopia, but I can’t remember for sure), one of his brothers was working as a doctor on Baffin Island, Canada (literally one of Canada’s northernmost points), he was living in Sweden, and another brother was back in Pennsylvania. Several of them have since moved back to the states, but Andy continues to live in Sweden and will likely stay the rest of his life. Andy also told me that he had recently gotten dual citizenship for Sweden and the US, after Sweden changed their policy to allow dual citizenship a few years back. For the next twenty or thirty minutes, we exchanged stories of travel and life and told one another about our families and future plans for our lives.
At this point in our conversation, both of us had long ago finished our meals and were now sitting here for the sole reason that we enjoyed one another’s company/conversation and each had several hours to kill before our flights (Andy had three and I had eight & a half). Looking back in retrospect, I find it great that he and I both opened ourselves up to what was to each of us a complete stranger and turned an otherwise lonely airport meal into an enjoyable time with another fellow human. As unfortunate as it may be, it is not as often as I would like that I linger over meals to enjoy conversation even with those closest to me. This experience reminded me how enjoyable this can be and how great it is to be an open vessel to the world. One final story Andy shared with me (which I believe was after I told him about my plans to climb Kilimanjaro) was about a trip he, his wife, and a friend had taken back in 1979. The trip was much like my recent train trip around the US in that it involved stopping and visiting friends in various places. Their trip, however, started in Sweden and was to end in India and was being done all by car! I can’t remember for certain how they originally crossed from Sweden into mainland Europe, but it was either by a ferry or the highway connecting Sweden and Denmark. They then made several stops in Europe, then Turkey, possibly Jordan, and were then crossing into Iran when they were stopped at the border by Iranian guards and told they could not go any further. At the time they did not know the reason for their denied entry, but later learned that it was because of the recent hostage crisis when more than 50 US citizens were held for 444 days. Anyone familiar with geography knows that Iran is the only way to cross Asia at this point to get to India, unless one drives all the way around the Caspian Sea to come down through the -stans, which would involve no less than 1,300 extra miles (2,600 km). Needless to say, their trip ended at this point and they were unable to visit their friends in either Iran or their final destination of India.
Although this was not the actual finish to our conversation, we eventually did come to the point where it was time to move on to the next thing in life as is always the case. As we parted, however, I believe we both felt fortunate at having had this wonderful chance meeting and each wished one another well and safe travels. Andy reiterated how much he hoped my time in Yemen and wherever else I end up in the world goes well. And so, now I too must move on to the next thing in my life and finish this blog post. I hope you have enjoyed.
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