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I’ll Always Remember the Patience and Kindness of This Stranger on a Plane
How many of us would silently scream if placed next to a seven-year-old child on a long-haul flight?
Not this lady.
We boarded the plane as strangers and disembarked as friends.
My memory is cloudy. By the time I reached age seven, I had already lived in four different countries, and I was accustomed to flying. The familiarity of ear popping and sitting in one place for hours on end was strangely comforting. Each flight merges into the other. But this flight in question was between Saudi Arabia and Scotland — I think.
The older I get, the quieter I become, and yet many of my friends would still consider me a chatterbox. This emphasizes just how much I prattled as a kid. I chirped and chipped and barely stopped for air. Every waking moment my curious mind expressed its observations or questions. Most of the time, I was talking to myself.
While I’ve always been a conversationalist, I’m also hypervigilant. This combination was essential to keep little me safe.
Initially, I was coy and just answered a few of her questions. I thought she being polite. But her warmth only grew, and she beamed at me with a patient smile that…
