Trip Down Memory Lane

Just A Stranger

I squeezed my mother's hand tightly and clenched my jaw. I was probably the worst archetype of a person you'd want on an airplane, easily frightened, always anxious and talking to people was definitely not my strong suit. But, nevertheless the choice was either I sit on the airplane or paddle to another continent and sitting on an airplane for 12 hours was definitely the much better option. I was honestly terrified but at least I had what my mother said was called a "window seat". 

I peered through the glass and watched the flashing lights illuminate against the night outside of the arching rectangular window. I held on tightly to the plush shamu from SeaWorld I had gotten that summer which I had named Shamu or Mumu for short. It was MY plush, the plush I couldn't sleep without and had to take ANYWHERE and EVERYWHERE, no one was taking my Shamu away from me as long as I could help it. As the announcements were beginning to be made I quickly peered over my shoulder and saw a young woman who must have been around the age of 19. She must have noticed my staring because she turned her head towards me and her lips formed a smile. My introverted self quickly and swiftly turned back around while swinging my feet as I was still too short for my feet to reach the floor. I held my Shamu closely to my chest and squeezed my mother's hand as we began liftoff after buckling in. I closed my eyes shut and heard my ears pop, the pressure was gone and we were in flight. 

Relief. It was over, my first liftoff.

After that debacle curiosity began to take control of my mind, I wanted to talk to the woman behind me about my Shamu. I was awfully prideful of my shamu for being a 6 year old with a little of a stuffed animal addiction.  

Once the window shades were shut I put my Shamu in between the seat gap and attempted to hide behind my stuffed animal which failed as you can imagine. I watched attentively to see how she would react. She was momentarily distracted and when she turned around..I ducked down further and heard her chuckle. She seemed friendly to me and also surprisingly not intimidating at all, all this allowed me to muster enough courage to talk to her. My mother was sleeping so I thought this was a good time to talk to her without bothering my mother too much. 

"What is your name?"

"Emily". I replied 

She nodded and then pointed at my shamu. 

At first I was taken aback thinking she was going to steal my beloved stuffed animal, but in reality she was pointing to indicate she was curious as to what the name was of my stuffed companion.  

"Shamu" I replied proudly.

She laughed and said "oh, is that so."

I nodded enthusiastically. 

And for the next hour it was the same conversation of rapid back and forth questioning. 

She made me laugh, no one I have ever met traveling has ever made me laugh, being in her company was not anxiety striking for me and when we began to land I didn't want to leave. Just like a child earnestly wanting to stay over at the friends house for a "few more minutes" or to finish watching the show just for a "few more minutes" even though we all know it's never just for a few more minutes. Since I was so little and my mother had pretty much not been aware of all the laughter and chatting I had with her I never had any contact information written down from her, but I'll never forget how she made me feel. 

Because of her I was finally confident enough to be able to hand my shamu to someone willingly. 

And with that I'd like to say thank you, Renee, and most importantly thank you to airplanes. These special occurrences that has happened to not only me seriously can change the course of one's life and is an experience one's ought to remember while continuing on with the journey of their life. With airplanes you are able to meet new people from all different cultures and backgrounds, developing connections to relatives farther away or learning more about your heritage,  you gain an understanding and you can garner an appreciation for trying new things and most importantly experiencing new things. That new thing for me was to be a little less afraid then I was already..immensely afraid..but now, even though everyone has fears people like Renee and many more have taught me the epic highs of what it means to be a human.. the value of connection. 

[In progress but I wanted to push this out now:)]