Currently Chasing: A Music Teacher

I love Airports. I’ve actually met quite a few people while waiting for a plane. A few of them are even Facebook friends. On my way to boot camp in 1994 I met a 14-year-old boy who had never met anyone in the military before. I made him a pen pal we wrote back and forth for months…until his mother sent me a letter saying that as nice as it was that I was giving her son something to do, she feared he was writing to me like a girlfriend…and well, yeah … She didn’t think it was appropriate. However, I was only 17 at the time…so even though I absolutely was not thinking of him in that way, I think we can definitely say I was a cougar before his mom thought it was cool.

I once met a girl on her way to meet a man she had only ever talked to online. We spent hours waiting for the plane and exchanging numbers so she could give me a play by play of how it went. It went horrible of course…so that online relationship ended … but our airport friendship didn’t.

I once exchanged glances with a guy while waiting for my group to board. We sat in the same row but on opposite sides of the aisle. We spent the flight passing letters back and forth. By the time the six hour flight landed we had plans for dinner and a movie. I guess strangers don’t scare me.

Now, airport chats aren’t for everyone … for example. I traveled with a co-worker recently and he told me a story about his last airport acquaintance. He was waiting for his flight and there was an elderly woman next to him. They chatted for about 15 minutes. She asked him to watch her bag while she went to the restroom. (Which why do they even call it a restroom? Are there people in there just resting?) Anyway, he agreed to watch her bag. He saw her walk to the restroom and then he saw her walk out. But she didn’t come back to get her bag. He got nervous. He went up the counter and told the lady that although he knows he wasn’t supposed to, he had agreed to watch this woman’s bag and that she hadn’t come back for it. The woman told him she would call security.

My friend immediately began to clear the area, letting people know that there was an unattended bag and that they were unsure of the contents. People began to back away and panic. My friend hid behind a pillar while security approached the bag and began going through it. All of a sudden from around the corner comes this little ol’ lady with two ice cream cones. She had just went to get herself and ‘the nice man watching her bag’ an ice cream cone. Imagine her shock as all of her things were spread about. I had visions on police tackling her and smashing her treats into her eyes. Geezus. I can pretty much bet that lady and my friend are not still keeping in touch!

So on my way back to Mississippi from San Diego I happened to be in the wrong seat. This guy approaches and says, I think this is my seat. I say something smart ass like, um, well this is my seat too, but I’ll move. Of course it wasn’t my seat, mine was the one next to it. But I never pass up an opportunity to be an asshole.

So we chat the entire flight! We talk about where he’s from, where I’m from, what he does, what I do. He’s a music teacher. And also the Choir Director! So we chatted about that and the show Glee and how he loves it and hates it because it gets more people interested in choir, but then during the first practice, when they see that people don’t just burst into song in full costume with a pre choreographed dance routine, they end up quitting.

So anyway, I gave him my blog card and said if he’s bored he could check out the site. He said he definitely would…and he said he may even leave a comment. Although maybe after reading even one or two of these massacres I call daily events he may change his mind, but I hope not.

After the flight I introduced the teacher to my paranoid friend who was traveling with me. My friend scorned me for talking to a stranger. It’s not like I watched his bag or anything. Although I should have asked him if he wanted to be pen pals. He’s a high school teacher, not student…so hopefully his mother won’t have a problem with me giving him something to do.