i always meet the nicest people on planes

deadhead to pasco. that was my job today. deadhead means that you are just a passenger on the plane, but you are getting paid for it. and pasco is somewhere in washington. it is a time where it is actually ok to sleep on the job. and i was fixing to do just that. cuz i have actually become a pretty talented plane sleeper. you know, limited head bobbing, mouth closed. just sit straight up and sleep. i have been in some pretty terrible situations in the past that have greatly improved this skill. for example - 13 hour flight, middle seat next to a sick person who is coughing the whole time and a very large woman on the other side. and i think a kid was behind me as well. it was ridiculous. and at one point i woke up with my head on the large woman's shoulder. haha. oh well. it is so awkward being in such close quarters with strangers. and it is funny how so many of them dont even acknowledge each other. its like we are afraid of who knows what. all we know is we are stuck in our seat for duration of the flight. The gentlemen who sat next to me today in 4B was a talker. he was nice and we started out talking about fuel prices. bor-ing. then we started talking about families and just life. it is weird to me that i can have a good conversation with a 50 year old dad traveling from texas for work. i guess its the simple commonalities of being human. i always have passengers coming into my selfish life, teaching me things. gosh darn it. things that i could not learn from the people i actually know. sometimes you need a nameless perfect stranger. and god is just funny like that. so thanks to the guy from san antonio who taught me about being a father, marriage is hard but good, and patience. thanks to the happy guy who was born with out legs who skateboarded to his seat and taught me that limitations are relative. thanks to the 80 year old who had just lost her husband of 49 years 11 months and three weeks. she reminded me that love can be real. lasting. and possible. everyone who comes on these planes has a story.
they might be coming home from iraq and meeting their one year old daughter for the first time. or moving homes. or going to disney land. or a funeral.
everyone is on their little journey, trying to get somewhere.

but for however many hours. of their busy day of their very important little lives. they are stuck on this plane. and i am in charge. mwah ha ha.