This will be a quickie post.
I was flying home from Fort Lauderdale and had to go through Charlotte (my fav!:)). The flight ended up being delayed 5 hours at Charlotte basically due to weather. By that point on a Friday night you just give up and figure whatever.
I get on the flight and i'm stuck in a window seat but the poor girl stuck in the middle is handicapped so I don't complain. She didn't want to trade seats but we ended up chatting briefly. That's about all on the flight as we got into our own little worlds.
When we landed, by this time 5 hours late, I figured - whatever, I'm late. So, as everyone anxiously jumped up to get their bags, I just sat there and told my neighbor, no rush, I can just wait for everyone to get off.
Everyone is filing off and we start chatting and i find out that she is 35 and she's had cerebral palsy since she was little. They finally bring her wheelchair and the stupid airport guy who is supposed to help her get out to meet her family says he can't because he has to help someone else! So I grabbed her stuff and told her that if she could wheel herself i'd carry her crutches and all and help her get to baggage.
Were in c concourse so it's a trek and we chat more.
Her name is Haia ( sounds like hiya) and she's Arabic and Palestinian (that's what she told me). It's funny because the book I'm reading is calked "the media relations department of hizbollah wishes you a happy birthday" it's about changes in the middle east (google it if you want to know more) - I had been reading it on the plane and had put it in my lap and haia said she had been looking at it. She's American though so she says she doesn't even know anything about where her parents are from. Her parents are still pretty devout but because of haias disabilities she said she's been given a lot of freedoms. She's even married to an Italian swedish guy that her parents love because he's so good to her.
She was raised out in palos hills area and got treatments at Shriners until she was a little older and then they transferred her treatment to the Rehab Hospital in Chicago where Cindy got her treatment. Funny. Then we were chatting about where I lived and she brought her wheelchair to a squeeling halt and said she used to go to camp every summer at peacock camp right off of deep lake road like a mile from where I live. She was just so cute, she was so happy!
I ended up asking her if she wanted to trade email addresses and she was so excited. She's lived in Charlotte for 8 years and she said she doesn't have many friends there. She said she gets kind of lonely because it's just her and her husband. As you all know - I'm in Charlotte quite a bit!:). She was inviting me over for dinner and if ever wanted to spend the night.
Its funny because this morning I was just thinking that I needed to get out of my own head and start being nicer to people and not think how they're in my way or annoying me (yes, sweet Alison think like that...). And look - I try it once and I not only make this girl extremely happy - I make a friend too!
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