Inspiration

My friend Julie and I were eating at a Chinese restaurant.

When an elderly waiter set chopsticks at our places, Julie made a point of reaching into her purse and pulling out her own pair. "As an environmentalist," she declared, "I do not approve of destroying bamboo forests for throwaway utensils."

The waiter inspected her chopsticks.

"Very beautiful," he said politely. "Ivory."

"Worrying is like a rocking chair. It gives you something to do, but doesn’t get you anywhere."

I was headed to Cincinnati Ohio.

The plane was due to leave at 5pm. I was to connect to a flight from Charlotte, NC at 7:10, and from Charlotte fly to Cincinnati.

It was raining. The flight was late. It was very late.

By 6:45, the gate attendant asked for all passengers with connections in Charlotte before 7:45 to come to the counter.

The line was long, very long, and very slow moving.

At 7:00 the plane took off. There were still people in the line that had connecting flights in Charlotte before 7:45.

I was one of those in the line.

It was obvious that we weren't going to make the connecting flight. There was only one gate agent handling the connecting passengers. He furiously worked finding alternatives on other airlines. Sometimes there were none.

"Do not let us mistake necessary evils for good."
- C. S. Lewis