I boarded the plane and sat alone on my row. The seats to my right empty. The plane was supposed to take off within 10 mins and the traffic of people boarding was none.
Right before we were to take off a petite woman slightly older than I am entered the hull. I wondered if she would sit in my row, and behold, she did.
Her hair was almost like a boys; short and brown, a little dirty, but was very delicate and feminine.
She was wearing rimless glasses and a bright yellow large cable knit cardigan with the biggest buttons I have ever seen. I remember looking at her pants. Shorter yet flared, a light grey color with large white locust flowers embroidered on them.
I stood up and let her into my row. She pulled out a book of her backpack before she put her bag away and then situated herself into the seat. We briefly chatted about how maybe we'll have the row to ourselves, and we did.
When we knew we had it we kicked off our shoes and got comfortable in our tiny plane seats. The lady behind be must have had long knees due to the amount of times my chair would move forward in a 3 minute interval.
We sat and talked of our homes and where we were heading. She was going to Kentucky to see her brother. I was going to Alabama to see my family. She lived in San Francisco, but was from New Hampshire. We were at the Denver Airport.
She was a music teacher. We talked about children since we both worked with them. We talked about jobs and dreams and how we ventured to where we are now. She told me about her dyslexic issues that makes it hard for her to read. We talked about reading. Lots about reading and books. Talked about how amazing they are and the joy of being lost to a book for hours. I admired her for the way she struggled to read but still pushed herself to try. She was reading The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. Every time I looked over at her she was so far deep into that book that it amazed me. She offered to let me read an extra one in her bag if I got bored.
It was about an hour into the flight and we decided to share a box of snacks. Cheese, crackers, turkey jerky, and almonds. We laughed at the gourmet spread of the airplane. She asked how me and my other met. I told her the story and she loved it. We both decided we would try and sleep, that lasted a grand total of 30 minutes and we gave up.
We then realized we were on the final descent of our flight. We buckled our belts up and hit some turbulence. We wearily looked at one another and then ahead then laughed. Talked about how terrible and terrifying that would be and then didn't speak of it anymore. We watched out the window as we lowered down past the clouds and watched the rain hit the ground.
The plane landed and we chatted a little more. We started talking of books again. She pulled out the book she had offered me earlier. I can't for the life of me remember the name of it but I do remember the cover. A mouse with a tiny sword in his hand. We both laughed about this mouse and then I realized I had talked to this perfect stranger for 2 hours...told her about my life and everything in it and didn't even know her name. So I asked.
"Sally," she said with a smile. I told her it was a pleasure meeting her and told her mine.
As we talked about our next steps in our night the plane started to unload.
I left before she did. "It was great chatting with you Sally. Safe travels to you."
"Have a great life Kat, wonderful meeting you." She said as I walked away.
All I could do was smile.
How refreshing it is to meet someone and share so much. Our paths crossed that night for a reason and I may never know. The one thing I do know that people are amazing creatures. Thanks for restoring that faith back into me, Sally the music teacher.