Almost ....
~ as the first leg of this trip began, someone else’s unfinished story intersected our path
Musings … my thoughts, every day since March 20, 2003 … now in my 24th year, haven’t missed a day; love the ‘likes’ - thanks to those who click the heart button, I’d love to see more comments and extensions of the conversation - so, please click the cloud-shaped balloon with your comments and/or suggestions - they make this writer better and are shared with all readers who get this publication.
Our Uber driver was early.
So were we.
A good omen, surely, or at least a civilized beginning to a day started by alarms sounding like revelry at 5:30 AM.
Clearing through security to arrive at a YYC/WestJet departure lounge, our trip had already given us a story of Greek farm origins, London education, a geologist’s move to Canada, a wife, three Canadian-born daughters, and two small words still waiting for their ending.
Our Uber driver was early.
So were we.
The ride to YYC became a rolling short-story festival: Greece, London, geology, Calgary oil-patch years, three daughters, one horse-struck, mountains loved, farm life remembered, and… the unplanned career change over the past six months he’s spent driving for Uber.
“Not yet,” he quickly answered when I asked if he’d become a Canadian citizen.
That sounded less like a delay than unfinished punctuation of a complex story.
From pickup to departure lounge: about eighty minutes. Breakfast: Hawaiian pizza chased by orange juice, because everything is ‘not normal.’ Then boarding, buckling, clouds, and the strange realization that the trip had already given us a person worth remembering, a story worth retelling … and possigly a potential client!
Drafting this Musing column - some 35,000 feet over Manitoba, having finally mastered the ‘free wifi’ and carry-on luggage juggle, the trip ahead of us was still uppermost in our minds. Still, it’s worth spending a few minutes having a conversation with a stranger. Banter - like the kind that grows friendships punctuated with that lovely phrase …. Not yet …
Travel promises monuments, museums, meals, and scenery. Fine. In favour of all four. But sometimes the first gift is a stranger with a life large enough to earn some time on our itinerary - and the real holiday hasn’t begun yet …
It begs the question, for all of us …
What part of your life is still ‘not yet’? Is it delay, failure, hope, or simply a sentence still gathering its ending?
Carol is laughing at my idiot-syncrasies and says hi.
That helps too.
So does sitting in the wrong seats and discovering the rightful holders, when they arrived later, were kind enough not to disturb ‘we already settled/installed, connected, older folk …
Did our journey begin, well before takeoff?
Yes, yes, yes …
It became real when someone else’s unfinished story climbed in with our luggage.
Some journeys begin with tickets and timetables, but the better ones begin when another unfinished life reminds us our own is still becoming, a work in progress … and with free wifi.