Six Strangers and a Van…
When you get up in the morning, you never really know how the day is going to play out. A few weeks ago I was heading to Brenham, TX (yes, Brenham…a small town about 45 minutes from College Station…Aggie Land!) for a presentation. All was going smoothly until I was waiting for the last leg of the journey – a plane ride from Dallas to College Station. We were delayed about 45 minutes while we heard about 2 other flights having mechanical issues. Then they finally let us board the plane. They started the engines…then they stopped the engines…then they started the engines…then they stopped the engines (Are you ready to get off the plane now?) After the third try the pilot announced that the generator wasn’t working. (Details! Details!) Well, needless to say, since there had just been TWO other flights that were having mechanical issues, the airline didn’t have any spare planes waiting in the wings – and it was the last flight of the day.
After much wailing and gnashing of teeth, people began to disperse, head toward hotels, or find other ways to arrive at their destination. That’s how 6 total strangers (ok…two of the folks were married to each other, so I suppose they weren’t ‘total strangers’) suddenly decided that they would try to rent a vehicle and drive 3 hours to College Station. If you can believe it, it was a delightful experience! Throw together a graduate student from Texas A&M and her husband, a staff member at Texas A&M, an A&M professor of Latin American studies (who had just returned from delivering a paper at a conference in Macedonia), a professor of atmospheric sciences from Reno, and a campus minister from Sylvania and you can be sure that we found a great deal to talk about on the ride. (Ok, it was a bit frustrating trying to find a vehicle…everyone else had already hit the car rental counters…but once we got on the road all went well.)
It was a fascinating experience in group dynamics. One member of the crew had managed to pull us all together. Another was well acquainted with the route to College Station. Two others handled the rental details. And all contributed to the general good spirits of the group. In the midst of the adventure, we took turns at various times reflecting on how blessed we had been. We were warm and safe, and we had the resources to finish this last leg of our journey.
We arrived at our destination before midnight, found the lone security guard at the College Station airport who let us in to return the van keys, and headed on our way. Since my presentation the next day was entitled, ‘Franciscan Living: Celebrating What’s Right with the World’, I was fortunate enough to have an opening anecdote!
We have occasionally connected since that evening since I am still trying to collect the promised reimbursement for the van rental from the airline (If you would like to speak to a customer representative, please press 3…) Will we ever see each other again? Probably not. But the experience remains with me as part of life’s little lessons. You find people of good will everywhere. It’s amazing how we can all connect and make it a bit easier to smooth out the unexpected bumps in life. A positive attitude and a grateful heart will turn an unpleasant experience into a delightful adventure…just be willing to ‘reframe’ the situation. Oh…and last of all…once in a while, it’s ok to go with strangers.
Faculty and Staff | Franciscan Footnotes
Tuesday, November 27, 2007 5:43:14 PM (Eastern Standard Time, UTC-05:00)  |
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