old lady

I went to LA a few days ago. There were about 38 people, mostly between 20-29 years old. Pretty much all of those in attendance were doing similar things with their lives, ie, working in ministry etc. It was...well, it was one of those times that are too few & too far in between. It was a little uncomfortable at first. Being in a room with people I'd never met for the purpose of getting to know them. There were other purposes as well, but later.

I was flying back to Reno on the 4th, which is something I'd never done before, flying on the 4th. I figured it'd be slow but man was it slow. I started off in Ontario airport. No checking baggage is the way to go, so I went straight to the security. Much to my surprise, I was the only person to be found, other than the security personnel. I made mention of this as I got closer. "Wow, I get airport security all to myself." Luckily I didn't get the extra frisking, but it was special. Things were relatively smooth. The first trip was to San Fran. I flew United because it was the cheapest. The plane was tiny, really tiny. The lady next to me said she was thankful that she got to sit to a small person. I liked her immediately. That was all the chatting that happened. She dove into her women's mag & read all the way. Me to, except in my book.

This is where Jesus enters the story. I deplaned & looked up. There it was...Peet's Coffee. Truly blessed I was. I said, thank You God for my Americano with whipped cream & room for cream.

The next leg of the flight was a short jaunt to Reno, about 35 minutes of actual flying. I hate landing in Reno. It's always a little sketchy. We landed early, so as soon as I was able I called Jessica to let her know that I was ready. I was finishing up my phone call as I walked out of the tunnel into the waiting area for the next flight. This old lady caught my eye. She was crying. Like crying, crying. While I was finishing up with Jessica I was scoping the immediate area. There was no one around the lady, but lots of people around. Most were quite aware of her & looked uncomfortable with what was happening, but they were doing their best to pretend that they were busy & unaware that there was something definitely wrong. I was a little nervous, but I hung up my phone & approached her. It got pretty quiet. I asked if she was ok, if I could do anything, get her anything, help with anything. She said that she was traveling with her son & that she was ok. She thanked me. I said ok. I slowly walked off, thinking about the crazy situation I just witnessed & questioned if I had done "enough," or if I did it "right." Who knows. I do hope that someone else picked up where I left off.