[uprooted & relentless]

October 3, 2012

I know as a general rule, Miraya, Olivia, and I don’t usually make two posts in a row just to keep things spicy. But I figured that I intended this project to be vaguely about sharing the life lessons that we are slowly accumulating post-grad and all, so it seems appropriate.

While I was in Zurich waiting for my connecting flight, a man sat next to me and couldn’t get his adapter to fit in the awkwardly recessed plug. My computer being sufficiently charged, I offered to let him use mine. We began a really pleasantly surprising conversation on where we’d just been and where we were going (Him: Zurich to JFK & Me: Tanzania to LAX). He was interested in my work and I his. I told him I was trying to move out to New York and he told me about his favorite places that I had to go to. He’d grown up in the Bronx, but absolutely approved of Brooklyn, but made a recommendation for me to try to find a place in Manhattan proper. I told him I was becoming increasingly more lured by San Francisco to which he replied, “Fair enough—great city.” I found out a good family friend lives not far from him in Westchester. He vaguely knows of Redlands by passing through to Palm Springs. He watched my bags as I went to check-in, and I watched his as he went to go grab a water. He added me on Facebook and connected on LinkedIn. It was such a friendly, interesting, and encouraging conversation that reminded me that I have to be open to talking to people unless I want to miss out on these increasingly rare moments.

So this morning I accepted his different requests (An aside, but his vague response of “some business consulting” to my question of what he travels for actually translated to he’s the VP & Partner at IBM and former principal partner at Deloitte—I love modesty). And he writes me, “It was a pleasure to meet you and share a space with you : ) When you’re in the city look me up.” And it doesn’t feel creepy. I felt likewise. I feel like it was one of those rare moments where I made an unlikely friend in a place where people, myself included, are generally on edge because of all the potential to “miss” something—their check-in time, their flight, their chance to go bat shit crazy at duty free, or pee or something—which in a round about way probably actually leads to missing out on occasions like this.

So my life-lesson? Slow down and be friendly—no matter where you are, you have time.