just a man on the plane...

i have a story that is worth sharing...

when my coworker and i were coming back from san antonio, we got on the plane... we flew southwest, so we were looking for a place to sit... i saw this guy sitting by himself in an aisle seat... so i thought, "he looks nice" so we sit down next to him and wait for the take-off...

it wasn't too long before we started talking to him... and he was just a normal guy... but there was something about him... in this weird normal way... he was actually a pilot for southwest... so that's kind of what started it off... and it was off from there...

i've never had a better conversation on a plane... between the three of us, we talked about everything from religion to politics to sports to airlines... and a lot of stuff in between... he's a christian... but he wasn't a preacher... he was a pilot with season tickets to the spurs... with 3 kids - twin girls and a son...

but the conversation kept going... we all talked for almost the entire flight... and it was just cool... i got off the plane and i just wanted to tell people about meeting this man who was refreshingly normal... he's probably my favorite chrisitan stranger i've ever met... most of the time i'm either annoyed by their overbearance or unaware that they are christians at all... instead... i liked him...

i thought it was just me... i thought i was the only one who would be affected by this man whose name i don't know... but we got in the car and my coworker called someone to tell them she was back safe. as soon as she said "we got back okay," the next words out of her mouth were about this man... she said, "we sat by this great man on the plane." and she kept talking about him...

and my heart smiled a little bit... because i knew it wasn't just me... and it made me realize the importance of being normal and myself... and also the effect that we can have on each other... if we'll take the time to have a conversation... not to force it... this man wasn't forcing his agenda... he was being nice... and his friendliness had more effect on a couple of unsuspecting business travelers than many evangelists i have heard or seen...

secrets...

lately i've been intrigued by the idea of secrets... i read a book called "can you keep a secret?" on my plane ride to san antonio... it was a fiction book - easy read... for entertainment... the main character was on a plane and ended up spilling all her secrets to a man who turns out to be her boss...

then... today, i read a quick article about postsecret... a website dedicated to publishing postcards of people's secrets... and there are testimonies about how free the people felt after they shared their secrets anonymously...

anyway... it all made me start thinking about the idea of secrets... what secrets do i have? what if the secrets i had were broadcasted for the world? would it become a point of stress - having all of my inside information available for the world? or would it be a huge relief?

and who earns the right to hear the secrets? does anyone deserve to be entrusted with someone's secrets? with whom should we share our secrets?

i know this doesn't make a lot of sense... it's all just kind of random thoughts... mostly, i'm trying to think of what secrets i have... i think i'm generally a pretty open-book type of person... but i'm sure there are some... but what do i do when i figure out what they are?

maybe i shouldn't think about it anymore...

on a much lighter note... i'm watching she's out of control with tony danza... matthew perry is in it... and he's also in friends... in friends, phoebe says that she always thought the song tiny dancer said "hold me closer, tony danza..." and all roads lead to tiny dancers or flavor flav once again...

no... my computer did not crash yet...

but by my lack of posting, it wouldn't be hard to believe... i can claim busy-ness and a lack of interest... but the fact is... i just haven't thought about it...

but here i am... now... writing... not really anything thought provoking... but some good news... starting with some informational stuff and bad news...

two of my coworkers were scheduled to go to a groundbreaking in texas - leaving tomorrow and coming back on thursday... but one of their uncles died this weekend and so she has to stay and deal with family stuff and cannot go... (bad news)

but, because it's spring break, the hotels and airlines won't refund the money for her very expensive flight and room... so she needs someone to go in her place...

and that person is me!!!

so - tomorrow afternoon/evening i leave for san antonio... i'll be gone until thursday mid-morning...

then, thursday night, i'll be repacking for a quick trip to lr and to shreveport... which means i'll be in 4 states in 3 days...

and, according to weather.com - it's warm in san antonio, which makes my heart happy a little bit... because it's been cold and rainy here!!!